A child in Beijing got the highest score—90/100, in a test of their financial intelligence that showed an understanding of financial management among primary school students in Beijing, Shanghai and Wenzhou, known for vibrant business activity in east China's Zhejiang province.

The students from the three cities scored 74 percent on average in the FQ test, surpassing the organizer's assumptions about what children understand about money management, said Xu Ting, head of the FQ Lab at Ant Fortune, the mobile financing platform of Alibaba Group Holding.

The FQ, or Financial Quotient, test was divided in two sections: an online survey and an offline experiment among pupils. It was designed to measure the pupils' ability to handle money, their understanding of spending and saving, and their knowledge of family finances and investment.

During the offline experiment children were required to spend one hour in a toy market after giving them 200 yuan in cash. "We thought the children would spend all the money on buying toys" said a researcher.

In general the children had strong self-control in spending. Test takers in Beijing had 140 yuan left on average, and no one had less than 10 yuan at the end of the test.

72% of children in the three cities chose to save money and have 128 yuan left on average. Only 7% of children had less than 10 yuan which indicates a "paycheck to paycheck" lifestyle.

Asked about managing a New Year's money gift, 61 percent of the students said they would deposit the money in the bank while 31 percent said they would give it to their parents for investment. One student said he would lend the money to relatives to buy property － and charge interest.