Drawings were collected from a total of 1192 children: 463 Chinese and 489 UK children in ordinary classes, and 240 Chinese week-end art school children, from age 5;2 to 13;7 years. Each child drew two topics from imagination and two from observing models. There were no significant differences in the evaluation and scoring of the Chinese ordinary school children and the UK children; however, the drawings of the Chinese children who attended week-end art school were deemed to be superior, This pattern of results was found for drawings from imagination and those from models. The pattern of development was similar in the two cultures, although it was accelerated for the art school children. There were some marked differences in style among the three groups.

Key words: children's drawings, cross-cultural study, imaginative drawing, observational drawing