This study demonstrates the importance of the approach of dis(playing) families in analyzing and conceptualizing mediated filial norms in Chinese cross-border/transnational families. Based upon two years of ethnographic fieldwork in Macao, the study develops a conceptual framework – dis(playing) mediated filial norms – to examine how Chinese cross-border students use WeChat to reconstitute their long-distance filial practices. Findings point to a double dynamic of dis(playing) filial norms, in which mediated filial norms shape their displays of emotions and bodies, whereas playing with filial norms battles the conflicts and burdens behind filial ideals. This study contributes to understanding the practices of mediated filial norms from parent–child dynamic interactions on social media, from multiple-audience perspectives, and from the uniqueness of WeChat in Chinese transnational domesticity. It also offers a conceptual explanation for the contradictions between connected and disconnected intimacy within filial practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]