I read somewhere that the complexity of the Chinese alphabet, where the characters are almost like painted images/calligraphy, causes their brains to work harder and increases intelligence. I don’t know if that’s been verified but it does make some sense to me.
They just a) work harder and b) cheat more.
There are 44,000 logograms (characters) used in Chinese writing. “Studies carried out in China have shown that functional literacy requires a knowledge of between three and four thousand characters.” (As per Wikipedia.)
Even though the English language is much different than Chinese Mandarin, it may be easier to communicate with in writing and printing.
I actually studied Chinese Mandarin at DLI while in the U.S.Navy.