In Chinese tradition, the legend of the swan feather dates to the Tang Dynasty (618-906 CE) and is still relevant today, especially during this gift-giving season.

According to legend, a local official in a far-away vassal state asked Mian Bogao to take two swans to the emperor as a gift. Such gift-giving was customary to show respect to the emperor, and swans (rarely found in China) were the most precious of gifts.

Mian set out on the long journey. As he neared his destination, he stopped by a lake to wash the swans. Freed from their cage, however, the two swans escaped and left only a feather behind.

Though Mian had now lost the precious gift for the emperor, he knew he had to complete his mission. He wrapped the swan feather in a white silk cloth and wrote a poem (as translated by CozyChinese.com):

千里送鵝毛 (qiān lǐ sòng é máo)—A swan’s feather from a thousand miles away
禮輕情意重 (lǐ qīng qíng yì zhòng)—An insignificant gift, with it the sincere wishes of the sender.

When Mian arrived at the palace, he watched as others offered jewelry and great riches to the emperor. When his turn came, he presented his simple gift and explained his story. And the emperor, impressed with Mian’s honesty and diligence to complete his mission, rewarded him greatly.

From this legend came a Chinese saying about walking a thousand miles and presenting a swan feather as a gift. It recognizes the value of the thought and sincerity behind a gift over its cost.

Today, you can honor this Chinese tradition and show sincere sentiments to your friends—just add a beautiful feather to their gifts.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

$\"Swan$

China’s swan feather legend is a gift to the world.
\u00a9 Denis Zaporozhtsev \/ Hemera<\/p><\/div>\n

In Chinese tradition, the legend of the swan feather dates to the Tang Dynasty (618-906 CE) and is still relevant today, especially during this gift-giving season.<\/p>\n

According to legend, \u00a0a local official in a far-away vassal state asked Mian Bogao to take two swans to the emperor as a gift. Such gift-giving was customary to show respect to the emperor, and swans (rarely found in China) were the most precious of gifts.<\/p>\n

$\"Swan$

A single swan feather sends a significant message.
\u00a9 Lendy 16 \/ iStock<\/p><\/div>\n

Mian set out on the long journey. As he neared his destination, he stopped by a lake to wash the swans. Freed from their cage, however, the two swans escaped and left only a feather behind.<\/p>\n

\u5343\u91cc\u9001\u9d5d\u6bdb (qi\u0101n l\u01d0 s\u00f2ng \u00e9 m\u00e1o)—A swan\u2019s feather from a thousand miles away
\n\u79ae\u8f15\u60c5\u610f\u91cd (l\u01d0 q\u012bng q\u00edng y\u00ec zh\u00f2ng)—An insignificant gift, with it the sincere wishes of the sender.<\/p>\n

From this legend came a Chinese saying about walking a thousand <\/em>miles\u00a0<\/em>and presenting a\u00a0swan feather as a gift. It recognizes the\u00a0value of the thought and sincerity behind a gift over its cost.<\/p>\n

Today, you can honor this Chinese tradition and show sincere sentiments to your friends—just add a beautiful feather to their gifts.<\/p>\n

$\"Present$
A feather on a gift is such a thoughtful touch!
\u00a9 Studio-Annika \/ iStock<\/p><\/div>\n
Comment<\/i><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>on this post below, or inspire insight with your own\u00a0OIC Moment\u00a0<\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":15388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[205,99,179,128],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-china-mappoints","category-heritage-culture","category-symbols-culture","category-literature-creative"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40673,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15384\/revisions\/40673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}