This paper investigated the association between students' perceptions of teacher autonomy-supportive and controlling interpersonal behaviours, positive and negative academic emotions, and subjective vitality and emotional exhaustion. Study 1 employed a cross-sectional survey design to collect data from 328 undergraduate students from three public universities in China. Study 2 employed an experimental design and collected data from 64 undergraduate students. The results of the structural equation modelling with latent variables indicated that teacher autonomy-supportive interpersonal behaviours did not reduce negative academic emotions, and negative emotions did not explain subjective vitality, while positive emotions did not explain emotional exhaustion. These findings suggest that positive and negative emotions are mutually exclusive in predicting subjective vitality and emotional exhaustion. The study discusses the implications of these findings for instructors' interpersonal behaviours and the role of emotions in predicting students' psychological well-being in the Chinese context.