







聚萤积雪 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to study diligently under difficult circumstances, making resourceful use of minimal light sources (such as the light from captured fireflies or reflected snow) to read; symbolizing perseverance and a strong dedication to learning despite poverty”. Literally, “Gathering fireflies and accumulating snow”.
During the Jin Dynasty, there was a scholar named Che Yin who was dedicated to learning from a young age. His family was poor and could not afford lamp oil for him to read at night. One summer evening, he noticed fireflies dancing outside. He caught them, put them into a white gauze bag, and hung the bag above his books, using their faint light to study.
In the same dynasty, another scholar named Sun Kang was also from a poor family. On snowy nights, he would study by the light reflected from the snow outside his window.

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Open the tool →聚萤积雪 (jù yíng jī xuě) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to study diligently under difficult circumstances, making resourceful use of minimal light sources (such as the light from captured fireflies or reflected snow) to read; symbolizing perseverance and a strong dedication to learning despite poverty”.
聚萤积雪 is pronounced jù yíng jī xuě in Mandarin Chinese.
Literally, 聚萤积雪 means “Gathering fireflies and accumulating snow”. It is used to mean “to study diligently under difficult circumstances, making resourceful use of minimal light sources (such as the light from captured fireflies or reflected snow) to read; symbolizing perseverance and a strong dedication to learning despite poverty”.
聚萤积雪 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to ancient China. The full story is on this page.
聚萤:晋代人车胤收集萤火虫读书;积雪:晋代人孙康映雪读书。形容刻苦攻读,勤学上进