This article reports on an inquiry into a group of English language teachers' professional experiences that interpreted their motivation to teach and their shifting professional commitment with reference to representations and visions that they had and did not have about themselves in rural secondary schools in China's hinterland regions. It revealed that the association between the participants' social mobility and English competence and their visions of the "ideal self" pushed them to join the teaching profession, which they disliked at the very start. Their subsequent association of teaching with their visions of the "ideal self" in teaching paradoxically caused fluctuations in their commitment to teaching, as the pursuit of English competence and idealized professional roles were constrained by contextual realities. Due to the significant roles that these teachers have in improving English language education in China's hinterland areas, it has become imperative for teacher educators and educational administrators to take measures for retention of English teachers while supporting their professional development efforts.