In recent decades, research has explored tension between women academics' motherhood and institutional discourse. This study, however, delves into the performances of nine Chinese women academics who are mothers and their body boundaries between motherhood and career progression based on semistructured interview data, using thematic analysis driven by the Butlerian theoretical concept of bodies. This approach contributes to a more nuanced understanding of academic mothers in the Chinese higher education context. The findings show that academic mothers strategically perform their bodies by maintaining, crossing and disciplining their body boundaries to satisfy social and institutional discourses. The findings reveal that academic mothers constantly face the tension between career expectations and motherhood. This study has implications for policy makers in academia, higher education institutions and women academics.