📖 Meaning
Literally, burning chaff to light up the night while reading. It is a metaphor for studying with tireless diligence, extending one's study time into the night by whatever light one can find. It conveys the same spirit as the idiom 然糠自照.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase comes from the Taiping Guangji (太平广记), compiled in the Northern Song dynasty, in its entry on Li Qi. Li Qi lost his mother the following year and, while wandering destitute in the Qing and Qi regions, he had no oil for lamps. He therefore burned chaff and firewood for light, turning night into day, and by this means read several thousand books. The story was later condensed into the idiom 然糠照薪, praising a poor scholar's unyielding devotion to learning.
💡 Example Usage
他年轻时家贫无灯，常然糠照薪，苦读至深夜。
When he was young his family was too poor to afford oil for lamps, so he often burned chaff for light and studied deep into the night.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 然糠照薪
- Pinyin: rán kāng zhào xīn
- Literal Translation: burn, chaff, illuminate, firewood
- Category: Learning
- Characters: 4