Heavenly Messenger

The Siberian white crane has a population of fewer than 4,000 and is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. During migration, one of these rare birds separated from its flock and unexpectedly ended up in Taiwan's Jinshan area. The male bird, which remained for more than 521 days, sparked great excitement from conservationists around the world and even inspired experts from the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, China and other nations to visit Taiwan to catch a glimpse of his elegance. Inspired onlookers gained a new sense of appreciation for the land and became more committed to protecting the environment. This crane's appearance 6,000 miles from home led to a series of questions. How would the bird safely return home? How could the conflict between economic development among local residents and conservation be resolved? How could local farmers be convinced to use friendly farming techniques? How could youths who left the countryside be convinced to return to revitalize their hometowns? Issues such as these are discussed in this documentary, which centers on a son who gave up his civil service job of 17 years to continue his mother Chiulu Sulan's bird photography dream and to promote wetland restoration movements. The documentary also describes the mission to help a lost crane return home.