Introduction: In the social context of China, education has always been regarded as the key to social competition, and both families and society have high expectations for students' academic performance. As a result of the highly intense competition in schools the so called "double reduction" policy has been introduced in 2021 to regulate competition and keep it among healthy boundaries.
Objective: To explore how Chinese teachers perceive the presence of competition in the school and in the society and how they socialize their students to be able to meet the expectations of a highly competitive society.
Method: Altogether 126 Chinese teachers participated from all levels of schooling (kindergarten, primary school, middle school, high school) representing different age groups and also working in schools in different parts of China. Around two-third of the participants were female. A semi-structured interview was conducted and transcribed and thematically analyzed (Braun & Clarke, 2022).
Results: Teachers view both the Chinese society and the school climate as highly competitive. They emphasize the positive functions of competition and express their concern to keep competition at a "healthy" level, that increases motivation, encourages students to learn, to make an effort, to work hard while does not lead to exhaustion, increased stress and anxiety, envy and hostility and to the wish to quit i.e. "lying flat". Competition in school prepares students for their life in the future. Teachers do not see competition in conflict with cooperation but in team competitions students learn to cooperate with others. This helps students develop teamwork and communication skills, laying a good foundation for their future career development. Teachers have an elaborated concept about how to support students to cope with winning and losing and be able to withstand drawbacks. They accept the reality of Chinese society and work on to help students' successful adaptation.