This article presents a game theory analysis of legislating private education in China, based on set of primary and secondary documents related to this issue. The article argues that shaping educational legislation is a dynamic, repeated game of negotiation, cooperation, and/or competition on multiple occasions among various interested actors, including lawmaking institutions, each with its own goals, authorities, information sources, and strategies. This article suggests that game theory complements existing models for understanding the politics of educational legislation in China, and it elucidates the implications and limitations of using this approach to understand the dynamics and complexity of educational policymaking.