<p>Recent reforms in science education advocate for the integration of engineering practices into K–12 curricula, prompting a need for this integration in each disciplinary science curriculum. This study aims to identify the current status and future directions of incorporating engineering elements in Chinese junior high school physics textbooks, as well as their distribution and representation approaches across different content areas. Utilizing the Framework for Quality K–12 Engineering Education, which encompasses 12 key elements, this study analyzes five junior high school physics textbooks endorsed by the Chinese Ministry of Education. The analysis revealed three areas of features including: (i) The textbooks meet at least half of the 12 engineering elements, yet exhibit variations in the coverage and quantity of engineering-related content; (ii) the distribution of the 12 engineering elements is unbalanced, with two elements being appreciated and four rarely mentioned across nearly all content themes; (iii) regarding the approaches used to address engineering aspects, the implicit approach is dominant (more than 90%). The limited explicit approaches are primarily concentrated on content themes on Acoustic Phenomena and Phase Change, corresponding to only three aspects of engineering elements. The implications for future textbook revisions and teacher professional development are discussed.</p>