> They had the means to spread information but only used it to spread officially sanctioned information. You're making this up. There was a robust tradition of

> They had the means to spread information but only used it to spread officially sanctioned information. You're making this up. There was a robust tradition of scholar-bureaucrats printing whatever the hell they wanted (usually red-blooded tracts against the Emperor when he didn't toe the Confucian line). Travel literature was incredibly popular in late Ming China.