In December 2010, 23-year-old Zou Jinlian from southern China’s Hubei Province arrived at an island on Poyang Lake in northern Jiangxi Province, beginning her new life devoted to caring for more than 100 wounded white cranes. Before long, the locals were calling her the Crane Commander.

Escaping the Desk Job

After graduating from Hubei Communications Technical College in 2009, Zou Jinlian was hired as an accountant in a large state-owned company.

One day, she happened upon an online video about Liu Wu, a businessman who achieved legendary status through looking after swans, cranes, and other birds. At first, he went broke by spending all his money on wild birds, but eventually he became a millionaire by raising cranes.

 “Cranes are the spirit of lakes,” Zou beams, “and I love them so much.” The idea struck her like a bolt of lightning. That night, she e-mailed Liu Wu and expressed her passion for such endeavors. To her excitement, Liu agreed to give her proposal a chance. The next day, she quit her job and set off to the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

15 Days Without a Shower

“I thought I knew what to expect,” recalls Zou, “but conditions were much worse than I could have imagined.” The natural paradise she has been dreaming of from her office desk was deep in the mountains, and she shared a house with rats constantly running across the roof.

Not long after her arrival, she left for Shaanxi Province to learn how to raise and train cranes as well as how to prevent disease and treat the birds. The training center is located in an isolated village without running water, and once, she endured 15 days without bathing.

Still, the lack of modern amenities wasn’t her biggest concern. She couldn’t bear that the birds never acted friendly towards her regardless of how much she helped them. “I still remember once when I was treating a wounded white crane with my colleagues,” she explains. “It struggled and pecked my jaw so badly that I bled all over the place.”

Occasionally, she considered giving up, but ultimately she persevered. Her relationship with the birds gradually improved each day as she spent more time with them, carefully observing their movements and habits.