This article is based on an investigation of the experiences of six native Chinese teachers working in British schools through the Confucius Institute and the British Council programmes. This qualitative study is located in the interpretivist tradition. It reveals that the target group of teachers construct their professional identity by means of a complex process of searching for their 'teaching self' within and beyond both the British school communities and the Hanban communities in a continual attempt to direct and modify different aspects of their professional lives. Negotiating and reconciling the incongruence, and sometimes conflict, between their own objectives and the requirements of different professional communities is an important aspect of their identity work.