<p>Contextualized in Chinese higher educations, this study unpacked the influence of motivations and supervisors’ support on postgraduates’ research literacy, through comparing three proposed research models rooted in the self-determination theory. The study collected responses from 345 postgraduates in a dozen research-oriented Chinese universities, and data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that postgraduates’ perceptions of supervisors’ support significantly influenced their research literacy; this role is especially prominent in stimulating postgraduates’ autonomous research motivation. Among the three proposed research models, model 1 best explains Chinese postgraduates’ research literacy, namely supervisors’ support, autonomous motivation, and controlled motivation jointly contributed to research literacy of postgraduates. Through situating the study within a Confucian-heritage educational culture, this study documents the roles of supervisors and their influences on postgraduates’ research literacy, contributed to people’s understanding of the self-determination theory. It also provides implications for fostering the next generation of scholars within the specific Confucian model of higher education context and beyond.</p>