Just how good is Beijing in the English department? Good enough to outpace Hong Kong, which has a legacy of 100 years of British colonization on its side.

Or so says EF Education, and they should know: they are one of the world’s leading teachers of English as a Second Language, and annually release a survey of the world’s best non-native speakers of English.

Their comprehensive study is in its fourth year and has shown that Beijing is on the upswing in terms of English ability, while Hong Kong has been in decline. Shanghai and Tianjin also narrowly outpaced Hong Kong when examining city data, although the rest of China as a whole ranked lower than both Hong Kong and Taiwan.

A full report can be found on EF’s website here, while a special China focus can be found here.

The survey is quite scientific and comparable across countries but is naturally biased in favor of areas where EF has a presence, as the methodology is based on tests offered there. Wanna take the test yourself? Take it here (though you better have some time on your hands, as it takes 50 minutes to complete).

EF’s worldwide scores ranged from a low of 38 (Iraq) to a high of 69 (Denmark), with China placing in the lower half, a mere 37th of 63 countries – sandwiched just below Russia (#36) and slightly above Brazil (#38).

China as a whole ranked lower than most Asian countries, outranking only four from the survey: Thailand, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, and Cambodia.

Here’s China’s breakdown by province, in case you were interested:

Now all EF need to do is help those white expat males.

Images: English First