Objective To investigate motivation, demand, and expectation of physicians in affiliated hospitals who attend teachers' training for rural doctors. Methods Questionnaire survey and random interview were used in this study. The questionnaire consisted of personal information, motivation, affecting factors, and demand in training, and awareness of rural medical education. Some interviewees were selected from different age groups. Among 162 questionnaire, 148 effective copies were withdrawn. Fourteen physicians were interviewed. Results The main motivations included “become the expert or leader”, “improve the quality of teaching theory”, and “enhance career competitiveness”. “Limited energy due to stretched working load” was the most important reason for individual being absent in training. Two issues as barriers in rural doctors training were “lack of understanding of working scope of rural doctors” and “incapability of combining clinical practice with teaching program”. Conclusion In order to promote the effectiveness of teachers' training program, we may focus not only on general clinical teaching ability, but also on the needs of rural doctors.