Paul Lacy visits a local market in Fenghuang county, Central China's Hunan province, in 2002. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

However, due to language barriers and misunderstandings from the locals, the Lacys had a hard time fitting in at first. They could barely communicate with the locals for they spoke neither English nor Mandarin, but an inscrutable dialect. Therefore, when shopping, they had to show shop owners pictures of what they wanted, used body language, or let an interpreter talk to the shop owner over the phone.

Gradually, their life in Fenghuang got easier thanks to friends' help and the coverage of their stories by local media. In 2015, they were recognized by the local government as one of the top 10 beautiful families in Fenghuang, the couple said.