Commissioned ahead of the establishment of the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone, the statue was designed by Pan He based on a local legend about a celestial being who descended to the region to live as a simple fisherwoman.

The statue was designated a cultural relic in 2014, and the following year the sculptor completed a companion piece with his son that depicts the fisher girl as a mother.

[1] A boardwalk on the shore allows for close views,[2] and the nearby park, known as Lover's Road, contains ginkgo, white pine, elm, and locust trees.

[2] The statue, which symbolizes a vigorous and lively Zhuhai welcoming visitors from all over the world, stands 8.7 metres (29 ft) tall and is composed of seventy pieces of granite.

[5] In 1979, as the Government of China prepared to create the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone, Wu Jianmin [zh] – later the first secretary of the municipal Chinese Communist Party committee – proposed the creation of a new statue that would become iconic of the nascent city.

[4] Initial drafts suggested erecting the sculpture at the Gongbei Port of Entry[6] and many of the early designs drew on imagery of male creators.

Enamored by the beauty of the Zhuhai region, she disguised herself as a fisher girl and lived among the people there, weaving baskets and healing locals with her powers until she fell in love with a fellow fisherman named Haipeng.

[8] Opponents argued against the depiction of a fisherwoman, which was deemed immoral,[6] as well as the cost of erecting a large sculpture – estimated at 200,000 yuan (equivalent to ¥1,230,000 in 2023) – when the new city lacked adequate housing.

Supporters, meanwhile, argued that the statue was necessary for Zhuhai to establish its own cultural identity, rather than be perceived as feeding off nearby Hong Kong and Macau.