This study explores the multilayered meanings of classroom seating order -- a crucial spatial element of school life -- and its influences on children's experiences. Drawing on fieldwork in a secondary school in northwest China, I ethnographically examine how school educators impose a hierarchy of seats in moral terms. My study shows that classroom seating arrangements in China's underprivileged public schools are perceived as a hierarchy. Teachers motivate students to take learning seriously by strategically assigning the students to hierarchical seating locations and manipulating the proximity of their seats. I contend that classroom seating order has been transformed into a symbolic hierarchy to cultivate students' attitude, a moral attribute considered crucial for achieving educational success. This study contributes to the emerging literature on the space in relation to educational processes. By situating the classroom seating into broader social-cultural-economic processes, it also demonstrates the methodological value of ethnographical examination of classroom.