While the importance of motivation and engagement in L2 writing in higher education is well documented, research on L2 secondary students’ English writing motivation and engagement remains scanty. This study used the adapted English Writing Motivation and Engagement Scale for High School (EW-MES-HS) and explored Chinese secondary students’ motivation and engagement in English writing. A total of 2,205 students from 55 secondary schools across China participated in the study. The results revealed a multi-dimensional perspective of students’ L2 writing motivation and engagement. Four distinct profiles of secondary L2 students’ motivation and engagement were specified: the ‘Unmotivated and disengaged’, the ‘Motivated and engaged’, the ‘Ambiguously motivated and engaged’, and the “Ambivalently motivated and engaged.” These findings argue against a dichotomous portrait of Chinese secondary EFL students as being either demotivated/disengaged or motivated/engaged in writing and shed new light on the nature of writing motivation and engagement in L2 writing contexts.