With a far-reaching vision in mind， Tang did not stopthere. He wanted to visit foreign countries and learn from their experiencesin environmental protection. He told Marcia his plan and got aprompt positive response. Marcia， an enthusiastic naturalist， began tomake immediate preparations for a world tour. Generously openingher wallet， Marcia contributed 10，000 US dollars from her savings tothe plan. At the same time， she sought financial support and assistancefrom foreign countries and organizations. Thanks to her efforts， thecouple was able again to pack their traveling bags and go on a longjourney. Within seven months， they visited more than ten countriesand focused on national parks and sanctuaries in seven countries： theformer Soviet Union， Germany， Switzerland， France， UK， the USA，and Canada. The distance they covered was equivalent to one and halftimes around the earth. At the end of the journey， they brought home more than one hundred kilograms of printed material. Marcia spenta lot of time concentrating her energy on sorting out the material andarranging for it to be translated into Chinese. When Tang finished thebook three years later， Marcia again helped him with translating it intoEnglish and polishing the English manuscript. The English version ofthe book A Green World Tour was published in 1999， three years afterMarcia had already passed away. This book has established Tang’s academicstanding as the No. 1 environmental writer in China. The book— the Green Bible as it is called — has been adopted as entrylevelteaching material for environmental protection for many Chinese people.
The book， 400，000 Chinese characters long， is the embodiment ofmany years of painstaking effort by two ordinary people approachingtheir seventies. Despite the differences in their cultural backgrounds，life experiences， languages and personalities， Mother Nature broughtthe two together and， after years of nurturing， they became a happilymarried couple.
Green Camp — A Green Movement Prompted by a LetterMarcia had a profound understanding of China and had deep feelingsof love toward the country. When relatives or friends visited fromabroad， she would tell them about China with a great deal of warmth.
She never claimed to be an expert on China nor ever harangued themon issues concerning the country. She respected China as she did theUSA. The great changes that have taken place in China left a deepimpression on her. Everything that happened in China， big or small，would draw her keenest attention. She would concern herself with it，support it， and help it， disregarding all else， even her life. On November25， 1995， Tang Xiyang got a letter from a reader exposing a planby the Yunnan Deqin county government to cut down a 100-squarekilometerarea of trees in a virgin forest in the Baima Snow MountainNature Reserve， as a way of solving its financial problems. What wasmore serious was the fact that the forest was inhabited by more than122 200 snub-nosed golden monkeys. Tang was astonished. How couldthey be so brazen as to cut down a thousand-year-old virgin dark coniferforest inhabited by rich flora and fauna — especially the rare snubnosedgolden monkey? Tang could not sit still， he had to take action.
A great plan popped into his mind. Rather than going by himself， hethought it would be much better if he could go there with a group ofcollege students to conduct field investigation and training. Marciaquite agreed with this idea and readily handed him a 1，000 yuan asfunds for the trip. “If it’s not enough， I’ll give more，” Marcia assuredhim. But to everybody’s surprise， just at this point， Marcia came downwith an illness. It was diagnosed as cancer of the esophagus， and it hadalready begun to spread.
After Christmas， Marcia’s condition worsened. But she refused tobe hospitalized. Instead， she asked a professional member of the ReligiousSociety of Friends from America to treat her illness by praying.
The family was unable to change her mind but had to respect her decision.
Despite being tortured by cancer， Marcia was calm and steadyas usual — reading books， listening to music， doing physical exercise，and sometimes even watching live broadcasts of world tennis games.
Marcia never stopped working. Even after the diagnosis of cancer wasconfirmed， Marcia polished the English versions of five books and numerous manuscripts. Sometimes she would lie in bed or hide herself inthe bathroom in silence in order to clean the ooze from her skin ulcers.
She never so much as grimaced or groaned over the pain. She wasreduced to a skeleton and was so thin that she looked like she couldbe blown down by a gust of wind， but her will was as sturdy as forgediron.
Even with such bad health， Marcia was still concerned very muchfor the preparation of the Green Camp’s trip to Yunnan. Tang wasencountering troubles and difficulties in organizing the trip. When hecomplained， Marcia advised him “to learn to love others and to lovenature and not to be too Maoist. As the departure day of the Green Camp was approaching， Marcia’scondition rapidly deteriorated. The cancer had quickly spreadto her liver and had totally shut down her metabolism. Her worn-outbody couldn’t hold any longer and seemed like it would collapse atany moment. On July 20， to make matters worse， she developed acuteenteritis. She went to the restroom five times in one morning. Thiskind of torment would be hard enough for a healthy person to bear， letalone for the weak Marcia. At last， she was completely exhausted andcollapsed.
On that evening， Tang held a family meeting to discuss two questions：the first was whether Marcia should be hospitalized and the secondwas whether Tang should go to Yunnan as planned. To the family’
