“Men dang hu dui”: From the architectural idiom to the notion of marriage

Abstract

“Men dang hu dui” (門當戶對 – Vietnamese: “môn đăng hộ đối”) is one of the traditional notions of marriage in China, propagated from the wide spread of Confucianism, and has a strong influence on the marriage customs in the East Asian countries, including Viet Nam. On the basis of graphology, “men” (門) is a word formed by combining two similar words “hu” (戶), and the phrase “men dang hu dui” (門當戶對) meant the pleasing symmetry of two door leaves. However, in the ancient architectural construction, this phrase mentioned two parts making up a main door. As stated in these differences, this article is to explore the origin and connotation of the notion “men dang hu dui” in the traditional marriage customs in the East Asian countries (China, Vietnam) in the monarchy period, from the perspective of cultural studies, mainly based on Watson, James’s views on the process of cultural “standardization” and qualitative research methods. According to the systematic reviews and logical inferences, the author found that the notion “men dang hu dui” originating from an idiom of architectural culture was applied to the mate selection with the wishes of a happy marriage and perfect family life. Afterwards, because of the influence of “the orthopraxy” under the Confucian perspective in the early modern era, the notion was changed into “a type of standard” to support the social organization and management of the central state.