Read by the light of fireflies and reflecting snow (囊萤映雪)|囊萤映雪

囊萤映雪
Náng yíng yìng xuě

Translation: Read by the light of fireflies entrapped in a pouch of thin silk and the reflections given off by the snow on the ground.
Meaning: Study hard despite poor conditions.

Story
This proverb comes from two stories. The story about the fireflies is found in the Jin shu 晋书 (The Book of Jin), one of the Twenty-Four Histories (Ershi-si shi 二十四史), a historical collection of books covering a period from 3000 bce to the 17th century. Jin shu, a history of the Jin 晋dynasty (317–420 ce) was compiled by 21 authors in the Tang 唐dynasty (618–907). The snow reflection story was told in a genealogical record of the Sun Family known as the Sunshi shilu (Generational Record of the Sun Family), whose citation was already seen in the Tang dynasty.

When Che Yin, a famed official of the Jin dynasty, was young, he was so poor that he couldn’t afford to buy lamp oil to read in the evening. He had to read during the day. One summer night, he was mesmerized by the magic fireflies giving off blinking lights from their bodies. Suddenly he got an idea. The clever Che Yin made a pouch out of thin silk, caught a few dozen fireflies, and placed them in the pouch. As he hung the pouch above him, all the bugs trapped in it gave off enough light for him to read in the evening. He would read like this whenever fireflies were available until he became successful.

Sun Kang was another official of the Jin dynasty. His success story is similar to that of Che Yin. The means of his success, however, was snow instead of bugs. Like Che Yin, Sun Kang was also born into a poor peasant family, so poor that it couldn’t support his reading in the evening. One night, Sun Kang woke up only to find the cool light outside the window reflected from the snow. He couldn’t go back to sleep. After putting on his clothes, he took his book and went out to read in the snow. He would rub his hands and stamp his feet when they were numb from the cold weather, but he wouldn’t give up reading.

Both Che Yin’s and Sun Kang’s story became widely known for their forbearance and diligence that made them successful in the end. The proverb that came from their stories has in time become the often-used motivation by parents and teachers alike, to encourage their children and students to study hard.

Vocabulary

Example
古人囊萤映雪，尚能努力学习，我们今天条件这么好，怎能懈怠呢？

People in ancient times could study hard without sufficient means. How can we slack in today’s conditions?