洛阳纸贵 — “Describes a literary work of exceptional quality and popularity”

Q: What is the Chinese definition of 洛阳纸贵?

比喻著作有价值，流传广。

洛阳纸贵 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “describes a literary work of exceptional quality and popularity”. Which is in such high demand that it metaphorically causes writing materials to become scarce and expensive, signifying its immense value and widespread circulation. Literally, “Paper becomes expensive in Luoyang”.

Frequency

洛阳纸贵 Pronunciation and Pinyin

洛阳纸贵 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
洛	luò	9	Luo River
阳	yáng	6	sun, light, positive, male
纸	zhǐ	7	Paper, sheet, document
贵	guì	9	expensive, valuable, noble

Example Sentence with 洛阳纸贵

这部新电影以其深刻的主题和精湛的演技，上映后立刻洛阳纸贵，成为影迷们热议的焦点。

With its profound themes and superb acting, this new film immediately gained immense popularity after its release, metaphorically causing 'paper to become expensive in Luoyang', and became a hot topic among film enthusiasts.

Origin and Story of 洛阳纸贵

During the Jin Dynasty, there was a talented writer named Zuo Si. When he was a child, Zuo Si was very mischievous and disliked studying. His father often got angry about it, but little Zuo Si remained playful and refused to study diligently. One day, Zuo Si's father was chatting with his friends. The friends admired him for having a clever and lovely son. Zuo Si's father sighed and said, "Don't even mention him. My son Zuo Si's studies are worse than mine when I was young; it seems he won't amount to much." He showed a look of disappointment on his face.

Little Zuo Si saw and heard all this. He was very sad, feeling that not studying hard indeed made him quite unpromising. So, he secretly made up his mind to study assiduously. Day after day, year after year, Zuo Si gradually grew up. Because of his persistent and diligent study, he eventually became a very learned person, and his writing was excellent.

He spent a year writing "The Rhapsody of the State of Qi" (Qidu Fu), which demonstrated his literary talent and laid the foundation for him to become an outstanding writer. After this, he planned to write "The Rhapsodies of the Three Capitals" (Sandu Fu), focusing on the customs, local conditions, and products of the capitals of Wei, Shu, and Wu during the Three Kingdoms period.

To achieve a high standard in content, structure, and language, he delved into research and meticulously wrote, forgetting food and sleep. After a full ten years, the literary masterpiece "The Rhapsodies of the Three Capitals" was finally completed.

"The Rhapsodies of the Three Capitals" received wide acclaim, and people compared it to the literary masterpieces of the Han Dynasty, "The Rhapsodies of the Two Capitals." As printing had not yet been invented at that time, those who loved "The Rhapsodies of the Three Capitals" eagerly vied to copy it. Because so many people were copying it, paper in Luoyang, the capital, became scarce, and the price of paper across the city rose sharply for a time. The story originates from "The Biography of Zuo Si" in the "Book of Jin." The idiom "Luoyang paper expensive" (洛阳纸贵) is used to commend excellent works that become widely popular.