Chinese idiom · 成语
洛阳纸贵
Meaning
Luoyang’s paper becomes costly; a work’s immense popularity.
Character by character
Origin and story
historicalThe Book of Jin (晋书), in Zuo Si's biography, says that he devoted ten years to composing his Three Capitals Rhapsody (三都赋). He consulted Zhang Zai about the southwest and kept writing materials in places around his home so that a promising line could be recorded as it occurred to him. At first, the completed work attracted little esteem.
Recognition from prominent literary figures changed its reception. Zhang Hua praised it in terms that placed it alongside celebrated earlier rhapsodies, and wealthy households competed to copy it. The biography says that paper became expensive in Luoyang as a result. This is the account behind the idiom: a work circulates so eagerly that even its copying materials become sought after.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
这本小说上市后洛阳纸贵，书店接连补了三次货。
The novel became a publishing sensation, and the bookstore restocked it three times in succession.
Literary description of a widely sought-after work; no literal rise in paper prices is needed today.