Previous studies showed that Childhood maltreatment is closely correlated with negative psychological and behavioral outcomes. However, why adult human harm their children? Maybe， evolutionary psychology could offer a reasonable explanation. Human fertilization occurs internal within females, and females are nearly 100 percent assured of their genetic contribution to their own offspring. However, males face fierce competition in mating, and that their mates may mate with other males before or after the marriage. Thus, males are never fully certain that their putative children are their biological offspring, males are face with the risk of paternal uncertainty and they unconsciously seek indirect and direct cues to assess their paternity. A male’s perception of facial resemblance between himself and his offspring is one direct cue for identifying whether he has a blood relationship with his offspring. Previous studies showed that the more similar the facial characteristics between fathers and their children are, the more resources males invest in their offspring; and the greater investment made by a male in his mate (an indirect investment in offspring), the lower rate of domestic violence. Nevertheless, human behaviors are not only influenced by evolutionary mechanisms but also by social and cultural contexts. In the context of Chinese culture, traditional views hold that males, but not females, are supposed to carry on the family line and take the responsibility of helping aging parents and providing proper burial. Thus, we argue that patriarchal culture in China will enhance the relationship between father-son facial resemblance and child abuse, while suppressing the same relationship between fathers and daughters. This study recruited 212 high school students as participants (87 boys, 125 girls, the average age was 15.94 years, SD = 0.56 years), and measured perceived father-child facial resemblance, the child abuse, and demographic variables to explore the effect of parent?child facial resemblance on the child abuse in a traditional patriarchal cultural context in China. This study found that (a) perceived father-child facial resemblance significantly affected father’s mental abuse; (b) child’s gender further moderated the effect of perceived father-child facial resemblance on father’s mental abuse, when offspring were boys, the effect of perceived father-child facial resemblance on father’s mental abuse was significant, however, when offspring were girls, the effect was not significant. Those results demonstrated that offspring’s gender moderated the relationship between perceived parent-child facial resemblance and child abuse, which not only supported but also enriched the theory of paternal uncertainty. The limitation and further research were discussed.