A merchant named Bai Yougong was passing by Yellow River, near Luokou, when he saw a man carrying a bamboo trunk and leading two large dogs. From the trunk, the man pulled out a carved wooden beauty, about a foot tall, whose eyes and hands moved, lifelike in their detail.

Next, he took out an embroidered saddle blanket, draped it over one of the dogs, placed the wooden figure upon the dog's back, settled it securely, and then shouted an order for the dog to run.

The wooden beauty automatically stood up and performed equestrian stunts on the dog's back—now slipping beneath the dog's belly, now climbing from the dog's waist to its tail, kneeling one moment and rising the next, moving with fluid grace and never losing balance.

After a while, the performance shifted to the story of Wang Zhaojun leaving the frontier. Simultaneously, the man procured another wooden carving, this one a male figure. He dressed it in furs, affixed a rooster feather to it, ordered it mounted on the back of the second dog, and commanded it to follow closely behind the wooden beauty.

Zhaojun frequently looked back over her shoulder, and the wooden man raised his whip in pursuit, their movements and postures as vivid as if they were truly alive.