名垂青史
míng chuí qīng shǐ
to go down in history
Character by character
名míng
name
name
垂chuí
hang down
hang down
青qīng
green
green
史shǐ
history
history
Example
他一辈子都想做出一番大事业，名垂青史。
All his life he wanted to achieve something great and go down in history.
Tone: positive (praise).
Usage and origin
青史 means history: records were once written on strips of green bamboo. The opposite is 遗臭万年, to leave a stink for ten thousand years.
Learn this in Lesson 88 · HSK 6–7: 司马迁与《史记》 (Sima Qian and the Records of the Grand Historian)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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