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A woman's dream of making a film on a rare species of bird is set to become a reality next month.

 

 

Zhang Haiyan, 31, from Dalian, a port city in northeast China's Liaoning Province, has been working on a script and raising funds for the film, which is based on black-faced spoonbills, for the past six years.

 

It is due to begin filming next month.

 

She used to live on an island named Shicheng, close to rocky isles where the birds breed. The film records her own experiences on the island and is aimed at highlighting the plight of the bird.

 

Zhang's interest in the species came in 1998 when a group of scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences came to the island to carry out researches on them.

 

It is estimated that there are only 1,000 spoonbills worldwide.

 

The species is on the Red List of Threatened Species of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), which means they are extremely endangered.

 

But the scientists left the island after failing to find any of the birds. Zhang, however, kept searching for them, aided by photos of the birds given by the scientists.

 

"I often went with my dad on a boat through the isles, hoping to see them," Zhang said.

 

One year later, a fisherman found two spoonbills on an isle called Xingrentuo near the island. In the following summers, Zhang and some of her fellow villagers recorded even more of the birds on the isle.

 

But she began to become worried about their living conditions, as most of the East Asian coast is subject to heavy pressure from high human populations and associated agricultural activities.

 

The local government issued an order to protect the birds on the isle, forbidding entrance to it at any time.

 

Zhang said she then came up with the idea to make a film.

 

"I want more people to know the birds and join the efforts to protect them, so they can live freely on the wetlands," she said.

 

In 2000 she quit her job as a teacher in a kindergarten to devote herself to writing a film script Human Beings and Black-faced Spoonbills.

 

In 2004, she moved to Dalian, appealing to governments and enterprises for help to shoot the film.

 

Finally, she raised 1.5 million yuan (US$187,500) of sponsorship for the film, about half the sum needed for the project.

 

Then, last November, Taiwan New Party Chairman Yok Muming met Zhang during a visit to Dalian and pledged to find financial support for her in Taiwan.

 

Yok said the birds strengthened the ties between the city and Taiwan, as the island was a breeding location for them while Taiwan was their winter haunt.

 

She has already secured a licence for the film from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and Tian Zhuangzhuang, a famous director in China, will direct the film.

 

A total of eight volunteers, including film veterans, are working with Zhang on the project.

 

"We are improving the shooting script and choosing actors. We will start the shooting next month as we have now raised enough money," Zhang said.

 

The long bill of the bird is enlarged at the tip, forming a spoon-shaped structure. Apart from its black face, bill and long feet, its entire plumage is white in colour, except during the breeding season.

 

(China Daily June 12, 2006)