The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ)is one of the most widely used instruments to measurestudents' motivation and self‐regulated learning. However, theMSLQ was developed and has been predominantly used inthe Western context, is a domain‐general measure, and isquite lengthy. Hence, adapting the MSLQ to the Chineseeducational context, validating its application in specificsubjects, and developing a short form would be an optimalway to improve its accessibility. This study aimed toinvestigate the psychometric properties of the Chinese versionof the MSLQ in mathematics learning (i.e., MSLQ‐C) anddevelop a short form (i.e., MSLQ‐CS) using set exploratorystructural equation modeling. The sample consisted of 563senior secondary students in China. Results demonstrated thatboth MSLQ‐CandMSLQ‐CS showed acceptable constructvalidity, reliability, and concurrent validity. Furthermore,structural relationships and interrelationships among thesubscales and their relationships with mathematics achieve-ment were highly similar for MSLQ‐CandMSLQ‐CS.Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.