







囊萤照雪 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to study diligently despite poverty or difficult circumstances”. Often by ingenious means (referring to using fireflies and snow for light). Literally, “Bag fireflies and illuminate with snow”.
During the Jin Dynasty, Che Yin was fond of learning from a young age.
However, his family was poor and couldn't afford lamp oil for him to read at night. He felt it was a great pity to waste the nighttime hours.
One summer night, he saw fireflies dancing everywhere outdoors. He caught dozens of them, put them in a white gauze bag, and hung it above his books, using the faint light to read.

Picture and word Bingo for your class
Open the tool →
Choose character parts and animate their colors, together or in stroke order
Open the tool →
Chinese and English fill-in vocabulary worksheets
Open the tool →
Create PNGs with pinyin, highlight character parts or remove strokes
Open the tool →囊萤照雪 (náng yíng zhào xuě) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to study diligently despite poverty or difficult circumstances”.
囊萤照雪 is pronounced náng yíng zhào xuě in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 囊萤照雪 means “Bag fireflies and illuminate with snow”. It is used to mean “to study diligently despite poverty or difficult circumstances”.
囊萤照雪 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to ancient China. The full story is on this page.
囊萤:把萤火虫放在袋子中。形容家境贫寒,勤苦读书