<p>Drawing on the perspective of Bourdieu’s field theory, this phenomenological study examined the professional state and challenges of six mid-career EFL (English as a foreign language) teacher educators in a regional comprehensive university in China. One-to-one semi-structured interviews were utilized to collect data. It was found that the participants experienced identity tensions and a marginalized status due to chronic heavy workload and research stagnation. Their professional state was found to have been caused by the continuous interplay between the institutional-social constraints in the neoliberalized academic field, their knowledge-focused habitus, and the chauvinistic society at large. Implications are drawn for all the parties concerned in different cultural and educational contexts to enhance the professional wellbeing of teacher educators in regional comprehensive universities.</p>