Abstract Background To study the competency of general practitioners (GPs) in Shanghai, China on prevention and management of type 2 diabetes, also understand factors that may prohibit it. Methods A survey questionnaire with 25 questions was designed based on 2013 Chinese Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Guidelines and Chinese Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Guidelines (Grassroots Edition) and conducted among 789 GPs who work at 54 community healthcare centers (CHCs) within 16 districts at Shanghai, China. Excel 2016 and SPSS 24.0 were used for data analysis, and a difference of P