It is recorded in Biographies of Virtuous Persons of the Chu State,
《太平御览》卷六一一晋张方《楚国先贤传》记载：
that in the Eastern Han Dynasty, a man named Sun Jing was a famous politician.
东汉时候，有个人名 叫孙敬，是著名的政治家。
As a young man, he was diligent in study and often forgot food and sleep.
他年轻时勤奋好学，常常是废寝忘食。
When he felt sleepy, he tied his hair to the roof beam.
他把自己的头发绑在房梁上，
Therefore，when he dozed，he would feel pain and wake up as his hair was pulled upward by the rope.
当他打盹的时候，头一低，绳子就会牵住头发，这样会把头皮扯痛了，马上就清醒了，
Then he would go on with his study.
再继续读书学习。
In Volume One of Anecdotes of the Qin State in Strategies of the Warring States, there is another story as follows：
又据《战国策·秦策一》记载:
Su Qin felt sleepy when he was reading, so he took an awl and stabbed it into his own legs.
苏秦读书困倦时，用锥子扎自己的腿。
Thus, the sudden pain would wake him up, and he could continue reading.
这样，猛然间感到疼痛，使自己清醒起来，再坚持读书。
Now people like to praise those who grind away at their studies with this allusion.
后世用“悬梁刺股”一词来比喻勤学苦读。
。