Introduction: Repositioning Chinese Language Education in Multilingual Europe

The expansion of Chinese as a second language (CSL, hereafter) across Europe during the last two decades cannot be reduced to the simple curricular addition of a “new” foreign language. It should instead be understood as a structural reconfiguration. Chinese has entered European educational systems at a historical moment characterized by intensified migration, urban superdiversity, and policy-level commitments to plurilingualism. In this context, its institutionalization does not merely expand the repertoire of available languages; it also reveals latent tensions within established European models of language education.