At present，building public understanding of and trust in science requires a“participatory turn”，which calls for the public to participate deeply in scientific practice. The rapid and in-depth development of citizen science not only exemplified the deep public participation in scientific practice，but also reflected the main problems existing in public understanding of science，public participation in science and building public trust in science in the past. The typical problems are the lack of enthusiasm，subjectivity and embodiment in public participation and excessive public participation. With citizen science as a form of participation，the public，through different degrees of embodied participation，not only truly integrates into scientific practice，but also obtains tacit knowledge and deep understanding that was difficult to achieve without embodied participation in the past，and also lays an empirical foundation for trust in science. The familiarity，understanding and personal experience of science generated by the public involvement in scientific research activities are important prerequisites for their trust in science. Thus，it is possible to build public trust in science in concrete citizen science practices. The rapid development of citizen science has provided inspiration for promoting public understanding，participation and trust in scientific work in China. Firstly，further enhance the cognition of citizens’scientific literacy and public participation in science，and deeply understand the multiple dimensions of civic scientific literacy and the multiple purposes of public participation in science. Secondly，strengthen the relevant policy system and combine governmental support with civic self-governance. Thirdly，strengthen the innovation of the way of practicing citizen science at both the organizational and technological levels.

citizen science  /  public understanding of science  /  embodiment  /  trust  /  involvement