The discourse of human quality or human qualities, couched in the Chinese term suzhi, has gradually dominated the rationalisation of issues ranging from education, democracy, poverty relief, rural migrant workers, population planning, ethnic policy, organisational management, modernity, progressing to everyday behaviour and social relations, since the 1980s. How has this fabricated idea become a ‘reality’ to shape and frame how one understands the world, each other and self? Built on a decade of research, this paper traces the genealogy of the idea, thereby revealing convergences between Confucian and modern and contemporary Chinese political and social theories that fundamentally see humanity as a shared mission of perfection for a common vision. This view of humanity sees no moral or ethical objection to control, moulding and manipulation of thought, beliefs, behaviour and affects of individuals for a grand course, which in turn leads to oppressive political structure and social relations. An awareness of vulnerability is therefore central to undoing the ‘taken-for-granted’ language of suzhi.