To illuminate themselves at night, ancient Chinese mostly used deng, meaning lamps or lanterns, or zhu, meaning candles. Red deng and zhu symbolize happiness. For those staying away from their hometowns, lamps and candles can also trigger homesickness.

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剪烛西窗
jiăn zhú xīchuāng

Jian means “to trim” while zhu means “candles.” Xichuang means “western window.”
The wick of a candle, when burning for a long time, can protrude and fork. It must be trimmed from time to time so that the candle fire would be bright and not flicker. Hence, trimming the candle wick means having a long conversation.

This idiom originated from a poem by Li Shangyin (c.813-c.858), which, according to some scholars, was written to his wife. Li wrote “When can I go back home and trim the candle wicks with you by the western window? I would tell you then how I have spent my moments now [missing you] in this rainy night here in Ba Mountain.”

This idiom is originally used to express one’s longing to reunite and talk with his beloved. It is now used to express one’s longing to see family or good friends and have a long heart-to-heart talk with someone after a long time of separation.

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东壁余光
dōngbì yú guāng

Dongbi means “eastern wall.” Yu means “spare” while guang means “light.” This idiom literally means the spare light from the eastern wall.

According to the Biographies of Exemplary Women by Liu Xiang (77-6 BCE), a woman named Xu Wu once twisted hemp threads together with other women, sharing a room illuminated by candles. Xu could not afford enough of her share of the candles. Another woman tried to stop Xu from sharing the room. Xu said “I have not brought enough candles because I am poor. That is why I came here early to clean the room, and stayed at the corner of the room when working. One more person in the room would not make the candle any dimmer. One fewer would not make the candle any brighter. Why be stingy with the spare light from the eastern wall?”

This idiom is used now to refer to the behaviors that cost a person nothing but are favorable to others. 

 

(edited by CHEN ALONG)