This paper reviews the impact of the rewards and recognition scheme on curriculum reform in higher vocational education (HVE) in China. In this scheme, teachers and students can win rewards and obtain recognition through curriculum competitions and student skill competitions conducted by the government. It has been used to encourage and to support colleges and teachers to implement HVE curriculum reform. The qualitative research project into HVE curriculum reform reported here identified both the facilitative and inhibitory effects of the scheme on curriculum reform. Discipline heads' perspectives of these influences were investigated through in-depth interviews. The scheme was seen as motivating just a slight majority of discipline heads to implement curriculum reform and as providing financial support in doing so. The discipline heads, though, also indicated that they were discouraged by the scheme's misleading guidelines, its inappropriate evaluations of their efforts and its contribution to funding inequalities.