Marcia greatly appreciated Tang’s arrangements on these field trips becauseat that time not all parts of the country were open to foreigners;very often people would come across “Foreigners Not Allowed” signs，even in some areas in Beijing. For instance， when they went to Baiyin’aobaoNational Park in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region，Marcia was denied entrance and had to return to Beijing because thelocal had not received clearance from above for Marcia’s visit， and saidthat park was not open to foreign visitors. Despite this problem， Marciawas still able to visit many places at that time — seeing many rarebirds and animals — all thanks to Tang. Tang， in his capacity as chiefeditor of Nature magazine， managed to get permits from the propergovernment departments allowing Marcia to accompany him to manynational parks， great mountains， and other famous spots that were “outof bounds” for foreigners.
Engagement at Bird Island， Qinghai LakeIn the five short years between 1982 to 1986， the two left their112 footprints in many well-known national parks and nature reserves.
During that same period， the book Living Treasures， the fruit of theirfirst collaboration， came out in China along with an English versionin the United States and UK. The time was ripe now for something tohappen. In 1985， Marcia and Tang went again to watch birds on BirdIsland in Qinghai Lake. Strolling along the lake shore， Marcia wascarried away by the beautiful wildflowers on the Qinghai Plateau. Shehad never allowed Tang to take pictures of her. But this time — theonly time — she asked him to take her pictures while she was enjoyingthe flowers and the birds all around. “Thank you，” the excited Marciasaid passionately. Marcia’s words， which may not seem out of theordinary， conveyed deep emotion to Tang. Spontaneously， they foundthemselves holding each other in a tight embrace. On this day， threeyears after their first meeting， they pledged their love amidst brightcoloredflowers under the blue sky and white clouds. Before that day，Marcia had already put out feelers， asking him “what if we were tolive together?” Tang had hesitated at the offer. There was a big differencein terms of their income， as Marcia earned more than ten timeswhat Tang did. It is a serious loss of face for a Chinese husband if hemakes less than his wife. Marcia hadn’t been certain either; she didn’tknow if Tang was the kind of person who might simply use their marriageas a means to immigrate abroad. But Tang dispelled all misgivingsfrom her mind by saying that China was his home， and he wouldnot immigrate to the States. The two hearts grew closer.
The Simple Life
Marcia had both a cool-head and an iron-will. Although a lady ofgraceful makings， she humbled herself happily. “At first I observed heronly from the point of view of her daily life，” Tang recalled. “She gaveup a classy life in New York and abandoned a respectable， high-payingjob in order to come to China. She was so deeply in love with Chinathat she dedicated the rest of her life to this country. Later I found how special her feelings toward Chinawere， when I often heard her tellfriends that she was “a Chinese withoutChinese citizenship”。
Marcia was strict with herselfin observing admirable professionalstandards. She went to the officelike clockwork and duly finishedh e r wo r k a s s i g nme n t s ， n e v e rprocrastinating. Once， she wastardy coming into the office by onlyfifteen minutes， but made up for itduring her lunch break. Marcia hadgreat expertise in editing， familiarity with Chinese phonetic symbols，printing styles， and the translations of special Chinese names forpeople， places and organizations. More commendable was her strongsense of responsibility. Since her Chinese left much to be desired，she had some difficulties in understanding the language. However，she would carefully examine the relevant references when she hadquestions — never allowing a mistake to slip through her fingers. Shemade valuable suggestions with regards to publishing styles， and thebinding and layout were arranged in accordance with foreign readers’
taste. She gave lectures to Chinese editors and patiently answeredtheir questions. She would accept jobs involving boring and obscureitems that were difficult to translate， which other people had avoided.
She worked well into the morning in order to finish any work that hadbeen left over from the previous day. Marcia dealt with a work loadthat was three times that of any other foreign expert. According tothe incomplete records kept by Foreign Languages Press， the numberof manuscripts that Marcia revised and polished with high efficiencyand quality amounted to one million five hundred thousand Chinesecharacters. Wherever she worked， she got along quite well with hercolleagues， never assuming a haughty manner just because she was114 an expert. She even did some menial jobs like cleaning toilets andfetching drinking water for the office. She was chosen as a modelworker and praised as “living Lei Feng” — a deceased model soldierwho performed great deeds for the ordinary people. Unlike some otherforeign experts who had lived in China for just a couple of years andthen wrote books about the country after returning home， Marcia neverwrote her own book on the subject. It was not because she lacked theability; rather， it was because she had dedicated all her time and effortsto putting the finishing touches on other people’s works — neglectingher own fame and gain. The Chinese would say that Marcia “sews awedding gown for another bride to wear.” She wore clothes that hadlong been out of fashion， had only Chinese steamed buns and bakedcakes for meals， rode a bicycle， and wore a watch made in China.
