We adopted the method of classroom observation and carried out research on five elementary school teachers in western China's rural areas who have shown enormous transformation after receiving training on participatory teaching to investigate the strengths and weaknesses in teachers' practice of participatory teaching. Results indicate that (a) teachers changed the teacher-dominated classroom situation and spent more class time on interaction between teacher and students and group activities, providing students with more participation opportunities; (b) regarding the group activities implemented by the teachers, there is a lack of challenge and participation suitability and many group activities did not encourage students to participate deeply; (c) students actively raised their hand to speak in class; however, students with different levels of academic performance received unequal participation opportunities. (Contains 3 tables.)