Abstract: This paper is divided into nine parts.After briefly reviewing the relevant academic research in Chinese writing,as well as the static stereotypes held by the Chinese and foreign academic circles on Lévi-Strauss'structuralism,the first part of the paper discusses the background of the concept of maison proposed by Lévi-Strauss in the study of kinship system,that is,the shared attention,exploration and theoretical reflection in the West over the widely existed non-matriarchal-non-patrilineal heirs/succession phenomenon in the world.The second part examines Lévi-Strauss'thoughts on the basic as well as complex structure of kinship system in his The Elementary Structures of Kinship (1949),revealing that his ideas about maison had already appeared amongst his writing,especially about the various "deviations" of the basic structure of kinship caused by political-economic interests.The third part introduces the formulation of the concept of maison and its Chinese translation.The fourth part discusses the misinterpretation in English language of Lévi-Strauss'phrase"société à maisons,"and how from it the Chinese translation "家屋社会" was derived.It suggests that "maison" should be understood and translated as "家产亲属制" in Chinese.The fifth part presents a translation of the critical term of "personne morale" in Lévi-Strauss'definition of maison as "合众体" in Chinese,the way it should be interpreted for it is the key to the concept of maison and the starting point for further studies of the maison in stitution.In view of the widely accepted misinterpretation of maison among mainstream Chinese and Western scholars,the sixth part re-examines Lévi-Strauss'basic research on the kinship system and his breakthrough contribution to the theory.The seventh part examines the four scholarly traditions that were impacted by Lévi-Strauss'maison,namely the French school,the Austronesian school led by the Dutch structuralist van Wouden,and the Anglo-American postmodern school promoted by British and American anthropologists out of their dissatisfaction with the French school,and the American archaeologic school.The eighth part introduces author's own follow-up study on how to use the concept of maison to re-examine Chinese history and practices in various locations,with personne morale as the key analytic notion.The last part is a concluding remark that summarises the significant contribution of maison to Lévi-Strauss'structuralism and its future implications.

Key words: maison, Cognatic system, corporation, history complex structure