Intercultural differences concerning the user preference of the indoor illuminant’s color temperature (warm white,neutral white,cold white) is an important issue in today’s globalized market.This color temperature preference depends also on the type of colored objects in the illuminated scene,e.g.a combination of multicolored objects or objects of different white shades.In this work,a scene with different white objects was illuminated in a real test room by six different light sources at different color temperatures between 2300 K and 5800 K and at two illuminance levels (500 lx and 1200 lx).Chinese and European subjects living in Germany scaled their color temperature preference of the white scene depending on color temperature and illuminance level.Results showed a general color temperature preference of neutral white (at about 4000 K).The dislike of warm white (2300 K) and cold white (5700 K) light sources was more accentuated by European observers than by Chinese observers.The higher luminance level was more preferred.Results are relevant to the selection of more preferred color temperatures of indoor light sources used for household illumination.