Cut a wall to borrow light from "Miscellaneous Notes on Xijing"

Original text

Kuang Heng was diligent in studying and lighting a candle. His neighbor had a candle but did not catch it. The book reflects the light and is read. The people in the town were illiterate and their family was rich and well-educated. Heng worked as a servant without asking for compensation. The master asked Heng strangely, and Heng said, "I would like to have the master's books and read them all over." The master sighed and gave him the books, and then he established a university.

Translation

Kuang Heng was diligent and studious, but there was no candle lighting at home. There were candles in the neighbor's house, but the light couldn't shine into his house, so Kuang Heng cut a hole in the wall to attract the light from the neighbor's house, so that the light could shine on the books for reading. There was a rich man named Wen Bu Shi from a wealthy family in his hometown. He was a rich man and had many books at home. Kuang Heng went to his house to work as a hired worker without any reward. The master felt very strange and asked him why he was like this. He said, "I hope I can get your book and read it through." After hearing this, the master sighed deeply and lent him the book to read. So Kuang Heng became a great scholar.

Kuang Heng studied diligently and held a candle. His neighbor had a candle but he didn't catch it. Heng went through the wall to draw its light, and then wrote a book to reflect the light and read. The people in the town were illiterate and their family was rich and well-educated. Heng worked as a servant without asking for compensation. The master asked Heng strangely, and Heng said, "I would like to have the master's books and read them all over." The master sighed and gave him the books, and then he established a university.

Chisel the wall to steal the light

Word: Chisel the wall to steal the light

Pronunciation: záo bì tōu guāng

Interpretation: Originally refers to the Western Han Dynasty Kuang Heng dug through the wall to let his neighbors read by candlelight. Later it was used to describe a poor family who studied hard.

Source: Volume 2 of "Miscellaneous Notes of Xijing": "Kuang Heng, also known as Zhigui, studied diligently but did not have a candle, and his neighbor had a candle but did not catch it. Heng used the wall to draw the light and read it with the book reflecting the light. ”

Example: A person with lofty ideals said that he must study hard. In ancient times, there was a person with "Nang Yingzhaodu" and "~". (Lu Xun's "Qiejieting Essays·Difficulty and Unbelief")

Allusion:

In the Western Han Dynasty, there was a farmer's child named Kuang Heng. He wanted to study very much when he was a child, but because his family was poor, he had no money to go to school. Later, he learned to read from a relative and gained the ability to read.

Kuang Heng couldn't afford books, so he had to borrow books to read. At that time, books were very valuable, and people who owned them were not willing to lend them to others easily. Kuang Heng worked part-time for wealthy people during the busy farming season. He didn't pay any wages and only asked people to lend him books to read.

After a few years, Kuang Heng grew up and became the main labor force in the family. He worked in the fields all day long, and only had time to read a little while taking a break at noon, so it often took ten and a half days to finish a book. Kuang Heng was very anxious and thought to himself: I plant crops during the day and don’t have time to read. I can use more time to read at night. But Kuang Heng’s family was very poor and couldn’t buy oil for lighting lamps. What should he do?

One night, Kuang Heng was lying on the bed and reciting the books he had read during the day. Carrying it on my back, I suddenly saw a ray of light coming from the east wall. He stood up in a hurry, walked to the wall and took a look, ah! It turned out that what came through the cracks in the wall was the neighbor's light. So Kuang Heng thought of a way: he took a knife and dug a larger gap in the wall. In this way, the light coming through was also greater, so he started reading with the light coming through.

Kuang Heng studied hard in this way and later became a very knowledgeable person.

Kuang Heng is diligent in his studies

Ge Hong

Kuang Heng, whose courtesy name is Zhigui, is diligent in his studies but without a candle. The neighbor had a candle but didn't catch it, so Heng put the light through the wall and reflected the light with a book to read. The people in the town were illiterate and their family was rich and well-educated. Heng worked as a servant without asking for compensation. The master asked Heng strangely, and Heng said, "I would like to have the master's books and read them all over." The master sighed and gave him the books, and then he established a university. Heng Neng was able to explain "Poetry", and people at the time said: "When Wu said "Poetry", Kuang Ding came. When Kuang explained "Poetry", he understood Ren Yi." Ding Heng also had a nickname. At that time, people were in awe and admired this, and everyone who heard it laughed with joy.