World History empires name meanings study guide

Goal of this article is to help students identify context and historical recollection via definitions of historical names and terms

• for example, to remember information about the Qing Dynasty, a student would have to memorize the dates and events.
• however, knowing the meaning of "Qing" and "Dynasty" greatly enhances that recollection
  • Dynasty = a series of related rulers, generally passed down generationally
  • "Qing" = the Chinese characters for "water" and "blue"
    • thus the Qing represented a new power
    • opposed to the "Ming"
      • the Chinese characters of which represented the sun and the moon
  • the idea being that the new rulers who started the Qing Dynasty chose