Cormorant Fishing Boat Model – Chinese Wooden River Junk

This is not a novelty. It is a record — a handcrafted wooden cormorant fishing boat model made to order in the Ocean Relic Studio workshop in Zhoushan, Zhejiang.

For over a thousand years, fishermen along the rivers and lakes of southern China trained cormorant birds to dive and retrieve fish — perched on bamboo poles at the bow, waiting while the fisherman read the water. The straw-thatched cabin sheltered the fisherman through rain and sun; the flat-bottomed hull was built for the shallow, reed-lined waterways of Jiangnan. This model captures that world in miniature: bamboo perch poles, hand-woven straw cabin, a cormorant figure at the stern, every element assembled by hand in our Zhoushan workshop, founded in 1980 on an archipelago where wooden boat-building is recognized as intangible cultural heritage.

What You Receive

Who This Is For

This is the most distinctive model in our range — a vessel type that most people have never seen rendered in miniature. It suits a study, a bookshelf, or a display cabinet where the owner wants an object that tells a specific story, not just a general one about the sea.

As a gift, it is well-suited to anyone with a genuine interest in Chinese cultural history, traditional fishing practices, or the relationship between humans and animals in pre-industrial life. It is the kind of object that prompts a conversation.

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