Symbols of the Parent have accompanied Mao Xuhui’s artistic journey for three decades, and they have stirred strong cultural sentiments along the way. The artist has represented the Parent as the father figure, the seat of power, the flag and the scissors; all of which have been recognised as iconic artistic imageries that symbolise this era of tumultuous transformation. “Power of the parent” harks back to the language of early modern China when the traditional family order was attacked as “feudal” and oppressive, and such criticisms have evolved with national politics into the eventual totalitarianism of China’s modern state. It is a loaded imagery requiring unpacking. The Marxist interpretation of “feudalism” was grafted onto the traditional Chinese family clan social system, and with the collapse of the old social order, clanship was made the scapegoat of modern authoritarianism to symbolise “feudal oppression”. The Parent has toppled, but it hasn’t gone away; what has changed is its modern meaning.  It is undisputable that the toppled Parent will continue to determine the locus of reference for the human world, but the aesthetics of the toppled monument points to a different order of beauty. The Parent was indeed the pivotal reference of traditional social order based on clanship, but that pivot was founded on the principle of the “five moral pillars”. The modern nation state has debunked the old moral principle in favour of a power structure based on the principle of  “rights and duties”, now made the new basis of the Parent’s rule. Authoritarian state power was understandable in the days of national emergency, but it has also toppled the role of moral order and usurped the Mandate of Heaven. Mao Xuhui’s Parent brings with it the memory of this earlier moral order while it comments on recent politics. It is undisputable that the toppled Parent will continue to determine the locus of reference for the human world, but the aesthetics of the toppled monument points to a different order of beauty.