A day in the life of a family of poor fishermen who grow up, live, and work in a tiny sampan in a harbor on the China coast. The hard routine is broken when they watch a cormorant fisherman send his birds out to do his fishing for him. Children like this best of all early Bryan films (1964 IFF catalog). This is the story of a family that lives aboard one of the small Chinese river boats know as sampans. The Ling family lives in Fukien Province and navigates the Min River. We are shown the daily fishing activities, the housekeeping chores, the preparation of food, and the entire family’s participation in rowing the boat to its anchorage at night. Included is a sequence on a cormorant fisherman and his birds, which have been trained to do the fishing for their master. (1950 NYU Film Library catalog)

Edited Film