One gold piece was worth ten thousand coins; a hundred gold pieces meant a million coins.
Even the relatively inexpensive bamboo slips were beyond what ordinary people could afford, while the exact price of books varied depending on factors such as their production methods and materials.
Take bamboo-slip books, for example. Making the slips required numerous complicated processes, including selecting materials, slicing, and heat-curing, consuming both materials and time.
For a well-made bamboo-slip book containing a substantial number of words, a single work of moderate length might cost anywhere from several thousand to over ten thousand coins.
For a lengthy masterpiece, or a work with important content and exquisite craftsmanship, the price might reach tens of thousands of coins or even higher.
Although Cai Lun later improved papermaking, paper production remained low, the manufacturing techniques were still immature, and scholars generally held paper in low regard, so paper books cost even more than bamboo-slip books.
A high-quality, beautifully bound paper book might cost around a hundred gold pieces-roughly a million coins.
Moreover, professional copyists did not come cheap. Their fees could easily run to hundreds or thousands of coins, and hiring someone learned and renowned to transcribe a book cost even more.
For a book of ordinary length, the copying fee might reach three or four thousand coins. If a renowned master was hired or the book's contents required special handling, the price would rise substantially.
Thus, in this era, reading was the exclusive privilege of the children of Great Aristocratic Clans. Sons of Humble Families who wanted an education could only study at certain renowned academies or borrow books from teachers, friends, and relatives.
As for ordinary people who did not even qualify as members of humble families, studying was all but impossible.
"Look at this."
As Dong Zhong