洛阳纸贵

Luò yáng zhǐ guì

a work so popular that paper runs short

Character by character

洛Luò
Luo-

阳yáng
yang

纸zhǐ
paper

贵guì
dear

这本小说一出版就洛阳纸贵。

The novel was a runaway success from the day it came out.

Tone: positive (praise).

So many people copied out 左思’s 《三都赋》 that paper prices in 洛阳 rose.

Learn this in Lesson 80 · HSK 6–7: 四大发明 (The four great inventions)

A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.