International audience ; Teachers’ beliefs are expected to have impact on the implementation of inquiry-based learning (IBL) in mathematics education. Moreover, Chinese and Dutch teaching cultures in mathematics seem to be very different. This paper presents results from semi-structured interviews with 30 Chinese and 19 Dutch mathematics teachers’ beliefs about IBL. Statements were connected to main codes and ranked for each country. Dutch teachers focused on students’ taking responsibility in IBL while Chinese teachers put extra emphasis on teacher guidance, they also talked about student discussion and collaboration. Chinese teachers paid attention to the benefits of IBL on mathematical thinking while Dutch teachers to the benefits on mastery and appliance of knowledge. In addition to the lack of time and suitable tasks as difficulties, Chinese teachers also mentioned students’ lack of motivation and performance, while Dutch teachers mentioned the demands and openness of IBL.