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Set against the background of the Chinese government’s commitment to universalise early childhood educational provision, this exploratory study investigated the value attributed to play and drama-based teaching and learning in early childhood education from the perspectives of parents, teachers and Head Teachers from Suzhou in Jiangsu Province. Adopting a mixed methods approach involving online surveys and semi-structured interviews, the findings indicate that while parents expressed interest in dramatic play-based approaches to education in their children’s classrooms, broader societal and philosophical influences about the purposes of education prevail, and they were concerned about their children falling behind in a highly competitive education system. Teachers and Head Teachers were similarly aware of the value of dramatic play in young children’s development, but lacked the knowledge, skills and resources to implement a dramatic play-based approach to teaching and learning in their classrooms. The data support proposals for greater investment in initial teacher education and in continuing professional development in the areas of play-based pedagogies such as Drama in Education.