Relative clauses (RC) are a common embedded structure in natural language. They can be classified as Subject-extracted RC (SRC) and object-extracted RC (ORC). Previous studies have suggested an ORC advantage in Chinese. This is consistent with the memory-based theories, which propose that more syntactic working memory (SWM) is needed during the Chinese SRC processing than the ORC processing. However, it is still unclear about the nature of the SWM (language-specific vs. domain-general). In the current study, participants were asked to read Chinese SRC and ORC sentences while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. Because of the important role of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and superior temporal gyrus (STG) in SWM, these two brain regions were divided into sub-regions. Critically, LIFG