in straitened circumstances
In Chinese, R ì m ù D à oyu ǎ n is a Chinese idiom. It means that the situation is very difficult, and it is the end of the day. It also describes the extreme poverty. It's the same as "a long way to go". It comes from Wu Zi Zhi Bing.
The origin of Idioms
"Wu Zi Zhi Bing" says: "the way is far away, you must count up and down; you'd better work for others, and be careful with horses without work."
Idiom usage
Feng Menglong's Yu Shi Ming Yan, Vol. 13: "when the sun is far away, what will the two gongs do?"
in straitened circumstances
The natural endowment of the lake - bēi hú bǐng liáng
If there is love in the sky, the sky is old - tiān ruò yǒu qíng tiān yì lǎo