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Kuang Heng, who later became a prime minister during the Western Han Dynasty, was born into a poor family and couldn't afford to attend school.
During the day, he worked for others. At night, unable to afford lamp oil, he would bore a small hole in the mud wall of his house to borrow light from his neighbor's lamp to read.
He even went to wealthier families who owned books, offering his labor for free in exchange for the opportunity to read their books.
His diligent study eventually led him to become the tutor to the crown prince during Emperor Yuan's reign.

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Open the tool →穿壁引光 (chuān bì yǐn guāng) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to study diligently and assiduously under difficult and impoverished circumstances, often finding resourceful or ingenious ways to overcome obstacles like lack of light”.
穿壁引光 is pronounced chuān bì yǐn guāng in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 穿壁引光 means “Bore through the wall to draw in light”. It is used to mean “to study diligently and assiduously under difficult and impoverished circumstances, often finding resourceful or ingenious ways to overcome obstacles like lack of light”.
穿壁引光 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to ancient China. The full story is on this page.
穿:凿通;引:引进。凿通墙壁,引进烛光。形容家贫读书刻苦。