Ngakwang Droma (left) and Nyima Dorje make up one of the 30 transnational couples in Lixin.

"I am very pleased to live with my husband in Lixin, and we will build our new home when our economic condition improves," she said with a smile.

Nyima Dorje is a handsome man who worked as a cook for four years in Kathmandu, and learned Nepalese there.

Nyima Dorje can cook Nepalese, Indian and a few Western dishes, and he said her wife is both hardworking and has good-tempered.

Tsering Lhamo, Ngakwang Droma's mother, has lived in Lixin for 18 years.

"It is very comfortable to live in this village, and I am so pleased at the marriage of my daughter to a man from Lixin," said the 52-year-old.

Just as Nyima Dorje married Ngakwang Droma, his 39-year-old sister married a Nepali man 15 years ago.

Methok is a local Sherpa woman from Lixin, and her husband Tsetan Dorje is a Sherpa man from Nepal.

"We both share the same culture and we get along well," said the 44-year-old Methok.

With Lixin on its way to becoming an ecological tourism destination, there is an upsurge of tour business in the village and the couple opened an inn with a cafe last year.

"I heard most Nepali men leave all the housework to their wives, but my husband does not do that - he is a hardworking man," Methok said.

"I am a Nepali Sherpa, and my wife is a Chinese Sherpa, so I am very pleased to have found a Sherpa wife," said Tsetan Dorje.

The couple has one child, who is taken care of by Tsetan Dorje's parents in Kathmandu. They visit their child and parents often.

"As I am living in this border village, it is very convenient for me to visit my child in Kathmandu," Methok said.

Methok's family chooses to go to a hospital in Nepal when they need medical care as it is nearer than those in China.

Local statistics show there are 30 transnational couples living in Lixin village.