To prevent nodding off while studying, they hang their braids from the beams of the house and stab themselves in the thighs with an awl so as to stay awake at all times during their studies. Describe hard study.
Idiom Pronunciation:
悬梁刺股
xuán liáng cì gǔ
Origin book:
《太平御览》：孙敬，字文宝，好学，晨夕不休。及至眠睡疲寝，以绳系头，悬屋梁。
《战国策·秦策一》：读书欲睡，引锥自刺其股，血流至足。
Origin Story:
This idiom is composed of two stories, which were later combined into the idiom of “Hanging head, stabbing buttocks” to inspire people to study with anger.
According to the Book of Han, there was a famous politician named Sun Jing in the Eastern Han Dynasty. When he was young, he was so diligent and studious that he would often study alone behind closed doors from morning to night, forgetting to eat and sleep. In order to seize the time to study and accumulate knowledge, he also came up with a special method to deal with drowsiness. In ancient times, the man’s hair was long, he found a rope, tied one end of the rope firmly to the beam, and straighten the rope, the other end of the rope tied to his own hair. When he dozed off in reading fatigue, his head down, the rope will be up to hold the hair, so that the scalp will be painful. So, he immediately woke up and continued to read and study.
It is recorded in “Strategies of the Warring States – Qin Strategies I”: Back in the Warring States period, there was a famous politician Su Qin. When he was young, because he did not have much knowledge, he went to many places to work, but was not valued. When he returned home, his family treated him coldly and despised him, which irritated him a lot. Later, he made up his mind to study and often studied until late at night. It is normal for people to stay up very late and feel tired, doze off or something. But Su Qin always felt that sleeping was a waste of time. So, he prepared an awl, he dozed off, with an awl to their thighs stabbed, so that they feel a sudden pain, so awake to continue reading at night.
