In approximately 280, Zuo wrote the Shu Capital Rhapsody (), the first of his rhapsodies on the three capitals of the Three Kingdoms Period. The Shu Capital Rhapsody described the city of Chengdu and the surrounding area. This work features the earliest surviving reference to Mount Emei. The work was so highly renowned and frequently copied upon its release that the price of paper in Luoyang is said to have risen as a result. This later gave rise to the popular Chinese idiom 洛阳纸贵 (Paper is Expensive in Luoyang), today used to praise a literary work.