Emperor Gaozu of Tang, Li Yuan, was known for his generous nature and deep empathy for his subjects. He often personally reviewed the case files of prisoners, and whenever he encountered a doubtful or unresolved case, he would summon the accused for a direct interrogation.
During the Tang Dynasty, a man named Yan Ganluo was arrested for robbery and thrown into prison. When Emperor Gaozu personally reviewed the prisoners, officials brought Yan before him. The emperor saw a ragged figure, his tattered clothes barely covering his thin, shivering frame as he knelt pitifully—hardly the image of a hardened bandit. Gaozu asked, "Why did you turn to robbery?" Yan Ganluo trembled and replied, "Driven by hunger and cold, I stole to survive."
Emperor Gaozu, moved by compassion, decided not to impose a harsh sentence on him.
Later, the idiom "suffering from hunger and cold" came to describe being simultaneously oppressed by hunger and cold, also used to depict extreme poverty.
Source: Wang Dang (Song Dynasty), *Tang Yu Lin*, "On Governance I"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "饥寒交迫" came to describe being simultaneously oppressed by hunger and cold, also used to depict extreme poverty.