In the beginning, they depended on drawing and translation websites to communicate.

Li bought kindergarten textbooks and asked primary school pupils to help his wife learn Chinese.

"The dictionary is a big help," Huang says in fluent Mandarin with a Guangxi accent, during a telephone interview. "But for me, the most efficient way is to watch TV news and dramas and learn from subtitles."

She had little problem communicating one-and-a-half years after marrying and helped out in Li's cake shop, dealing with Vietnamese clients.

Though Huang is still not accustomed to what she calls the greasy food and Li cannot understand why his 15-month-old twin daughters are regarded as the younger sisters of Huang's elder brother's newborn girl, according to Vietnamese convention, the couple feel blessed.

"The first step is always the most troublesome," Huang says. "But I never lost confidence that things would improve."