Although the metaphor gift is meager, it contains deep friendship.

The story of "sending goose feathers a thousand miles away" was originally about an envoy from a remote area named Mian Bogao who carried a swan to Chang 'an to pay tribute. The goose feathers on the road were dirty, so he opened the cage by the lake of mian yang and asked the swan to wash its feathers. Unexpectedly, the swan spread its wings and flew away, and Mian Bogao fell to the lake and cried. Later, he used his quick wits to pick up a feather and went to Chang 'an to pay tribute, which was rewarded by the Tang Emperor and passed down as a much-told story. Modern people often paint their own gifts with "sending goose feathers a thousand miles away".