Before modern media, gossip in ancient China was a formalized, powerful network. It involved everything from teahouse whispers to official reports from the Censorate.

Long before social media and camera lenses, ancient China had its own “paparazzi” who wielded ink, paper and a sharp tongue to unsettle the lives of the powerful. In those days, gossip was more than idle chatter; it formed an informal information network linking teahouses, stage stations, street tabloids and officialdom. During the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220), the imperial court established the Censorate, a body charged with monitoring official conduct. Its censors watched for misconduct that.....