At home after a days fishing the cormorants enjoy a rest on their perch in Shuyun’s garden. Each cormorant is given a name like Big Guy, Little Guy, Big Pearl and Little Pearl and they can live for twenty years, so become part of the family.

Each bird becomes special and has its own character and its speciality at fishing, some are good at fishing for eels and others are good at catching soft shell turtles.

When they get too old to fish productively they are still taken out on the boat and allowed to fish for themselves. When they die they are buried in a small box.