This article reports on a case study conducted in 2006-2007 which explores boys' motivation for choosing Chinese Second Language (CSL) as an elective in secondary school. The purpose of the study was to find out what factors encouraged or discouraged junior secondary school boys in their choice to continue CSL. 133 boys aged thirteen-fourteen years old from an independent K-12 boys' school in Melbourne participated in the study. We collected data through a questionnaire and our findings reveal that extrinsic motivation played an important role when boys chose to continue CSL as an elective, but intrinsic motivation was the major contributing factor to their quitting CSL. We found that family members and CSL teachers greatly influenced the boys' choice to continue CSL. It is also possible that ethnicity had a strong effect on the choice to continue CSL. We explore the educational implications of these findings and offer suggestions on how to encourage more secondary school boys in this age group to choose to continue CSL. (Contains 6 tables.)