This study aimed to determine the knowledge of diabetes, practices of self-management (SM), and potential factors influencing patient knowledge and practices of self-management among individuals with type 2 diabetes in urban Anhui Province, China. A cross-sectional study was conducted between October and November, 2009. Three hundred sixty-five subjects with type 2 diabetes were randomly selected from three urban communities in three seperate cities. An interview was conducted to determine subject knowledge regarding diabetes, practices of self-management, and potential factors influencing this knowledge and these practices of self-management. Fewer than half of subjects (45.6%) had a basic knowledge of diabetes and 49.7% practiced adequate self-management. Significant associations were found between subject knowledge of diabetes and their education level (OR 2.096, 95% CI 1.578-2.784) and the length of disease (OR 1.307, 95% CI 1.016-1.681). Those with good self-management were influenced by greater knowledge, (OR 2.057,95% CI 1.228-3.445), strong self-efficacy in diabetes self-management (OR 1.899, CI 1.253-2.878), and household income (OR 0.537, 95% CI 0.419-0.689). Factors found by univariate analysis regarding self-management included: glucose monitoring was influenced by perception of social support (p = 0.006), adherence to medication was influenced by attitude toward self-management (p < 0.001), physical activity was influenced by knowledge (p < 0.01), attitude (p < 0.01), self-efficacy (p < 0.01), and social support (p < 0.01). However, there were no factors significantly related to healthy dietary practices. Our findings show that best performance in self-management is achieved when those with type 2 diabetes have a high degree of knowledge of diabetes, positive attitudes toward diabetes, strong self-efficacy for self-management and perceptions of good social support.