Chow-Li law

The Chow-Li law is an adage commonly phrased as: No matter how good you are at something, there will always be someone younger and more Asian than you who is better.
The Chow-Li law is named for Jonathan Chow and Anthony Li, aspiring behavioural epigeneticists from Canada. Chow and Li became interested in the increasing amount of biological research, specifically pertaining to induced pluripotent stem cells, being completed in countries whose main language was not English. Expanding their curiosity, they sought to understand the affects increasing amounts of foreign language studies could have on researchers who spoke no other language than English.
Focus on scientific research in non-English speaking countries is rapidly increasing with South Korea, Israel, and Japan (respectively) spending the largest percentages of their GDP PPP on research and development in 2014. Concerned that language barriers may lead to unsatisfactory literature reviews and hinder collaboration between researchers across nations and languages, Chow and Li coined the Chow-Li law. The law highlights how useful information can often be found in foreign language research or studies produced by unlikely sources ("someone younger").
Controversy
In suggesting individuals of Asian descent were "better" at completing numerous, namely quantitative, tasks, the Chow-Li law can be seen to reinforce Asian stereotypes and encourages xenophobic sentiment. However, given the intended purpose of the law, the nature of its phrasing is generally regarded as non-derogatory.

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