The Introduction sets out the academic rationale for studying disability and citizenship in China, before mapping out current theoretical understandings of disability and citizenship, as well as the historical context of disability in China in particular, all of which set the foundations for the study that follows. It engages with a wide range of viewpoints on disability, from the medical and social models to notions of ableism and ‘normalcy’ and more recent rights-based models. It also provides a brief history of disability in China, from early philosophical conceptualisations to late imperial developments when bodies, literally and metaphorically, became the crucibles for the birth of a new republic in 1912. It then proceeds to look at the way in which citizenship is seen to intersect with disability by asking whether there can ever be such a thing as a ‘good’ disabled citizen, given that most societies have developed the template of an ideal citizen characterised by able-bodiedness, able-mindedness and normalcy. The chapter concludes with an overview of the book’s route towards the concept of ‘para-citizenship’ as a new framework for understanding disability and belonging.