The story comes from the History of Taoism written by Xu Wei, an outstanding painter and writer in the Ming Dynasty: It is said that during the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, Uighur in the western regions was a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty. On one occasion, in order to show friendship with the Tang Dynasty, the Uighur kingdom sent an envoy Mian Bogao to visit the King of Tang with a batch of rare treasures. Among these tributes, the most precious is a rare bird-the white swan.

Mian Bogao is most worried about this white swan. If something happens to him, how will he tell the king? Therefore, along the way, he personally fed the water and did not dare to neglect it for a moment. On this day, Mian Bogao came to the Mianyang River and saw the white swan craning its neck, opening its mouth and panting. Mian Bogao couldn't stand it, so he opened the cage, took the white swan to the water, and let it have a good drink. Who knows that the white swan drank enough water, closed its neck and a wing and flew into the sky with a splash! Mian Bogao jumped forward, only picked up a few feathers, but failed to catch the white swan and watched it fly without a trace. At that time, Mian Bogao stood in a daze for a while with a few white goose feathers in his hand, thinking back and forth about a question in his mind: "What should I do? Tribute? What should I bring to see Emperor Taizong? Back? How dare you go to see the Uighur king! " After careful consideration, Mian Bogao decided to continue his trip to the East. He took out a piece of white silk, carefully wrapped the goose feather, and wrote a poem on the silk book: "Swan salutes the Tang Dynasty, and the mountain is heavy and the road is far. Mianyang River has lost its treasure, so it is difficult to throw it away. Serve the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty and confess to Mian Bogao. Things are light and people are heavy, and goose feathers are sent thousands of miles! "

Mian Bogao went to Chang 'an effortlessly with jewels and goose feathers. Emperor Taizong received goose feathers from Mian Bogao and Mian Bogao. Emperor Taizong read this poem and listened to Mian Bogao's complaints. Instead of blaming him, he felt that Mian Bogao was honest and fulfilled his mission, so he gave him a big reward.

Since then, the story of "a thousand miles to send goose feathers, courtesy is light and affection is heavy" has been widely circulated, implying that although the gift is meager, it contains deep friendship. For example, in the Song Dynasty, Huang Tingjian's poem "Long Sentence" and "Thank Chen for Wu Nanxiong's Paper" said: "A thousand miles of goose feathers are not light, and clothes are tired of returning to the north. "Quoting Ouyang Xiu's poem Mei Ji Ginkgo" and Ouyang Xiu's Complete Works Volume Five "is a gift from a thousand miles away, and people are important. Although there are hundreds of duck feet, they are sincere and precious. Ask who gets it, poetry is far from poor. Fruit is picked in frost fields, and it will be sent to the capital when it is new. Although the package was small, everyone took care of it. Things are cheap and people are expensive, but people are virtuous and abandon them. Open your mouth to cherish and pay attention to it with poetry. " They are all famous sentences with this meaning applied.