Seven Family Members and Fifteen HamstersThis is the title of an article by Marcia printed in the ChristianScience Monitor. Tang’s daughters told me a moving story in connectionto this article.
11 8 In 1993， when Mother was in the process of being transferred，she had no residence for a certain period， since her housing was furnishedby her work organization. She had to stay temporarily with usdaughters. Seven people from three generations were packed in a 60sq. ft. apartment for three months. We thought it would be pretty awkwardfor her. In western society， Father told us， families usually do nothave so many members living together under one roof. Furthermore，their houses are spacious and usually have at least two bathrooms; wehad only one. We had to wait one after another to use the bathroom afterwe got out of bed in the morning and before we went to bed in theevening. Mother not only got used to it but managed to do well. In orderto stagger the bathroom hours， she would be the last to bed and thefirst to get up. Usually， this meant using the bathroom after midnightand waking up before five. Additionally， in the morning， she woulddo everything in the bathroom as quietly as possible and tiptoe out ofthe room with a flashlight. Walking down the 24-story high-rise， shewould go outside for some morning physical exercise. At times， shewould walk back up the 24 flights of stairs to get home when it wasstill too early for the elevator to be in operation. After breakfast， shewould start to work at 6：30 when her son-in-law Zhou Jianhui had justgotten up to go to the bathroom， followed by the third， the fourth， andso on. Every day repeated itself the same way. Instead of feeling uncomfortable，Marcia saw great fun in it. So， out came the article “SevenFamily Members and Fifteen Hamsters”。
Hamsters? Yes， these little creatures were introduced into thefamily under the guidance of Mother. Using the hamsters， Marcia gaveus a vivid education in how to love animals. One day we got a pair ofhamsters from the Guanyuan Pet Market for Zhou Fan， who is crazyabout little animals. With golden fluffy fur， rounded ears and a stubbytail， the hamster looks like a miniature bear. Hence， it was nicknamedthe “Golden Bear”。 Actually， hamsters are rodents with black eyes anda pointed snout similar to that of a rat. Our little hamsters kept gnawingat their wooden cage in order to wear down their constantly growingincisors. During a break， Mother would always go visit the little creatures on the balcony to say hello and talk with them. When fed，hamsters， like squirrels， hold their food with their front paws whilesitting upright on their hind legs. They eat fast and snatch the foodleft in the feeder as soon as they finish their share. Before long youwill notice their cheeks puff out. They’re not swallowing the food —
as it turns out， hamsters keep a surplus of food in the pouches of theircheeks. What greedy little guys！ “We should give them names，” Mothersaid one day. After a long discussion， we unanimously agreed that，since we have seven already， they should be considered the eighth andninth members of the family， and therefore， we should call them “LittleEight” and “Little Nine” accordingly.
Every day after dinner we would release them from the cage andlet them go out into the hallway for some exercise. The little hamstersran against each other with their rumps rolling which tickled the familyimmensely. A month later， they gave birth to a litter of tiny bundles.
Maybe because they were accustomed to out-of-cage exercise， andhad a strong desire to be free， the hamsters tried very often to open thecage door with their snouts. They even succeeded several times andjumped onto the window sills. One day we were surprised to find that“Little Eight” had disappeared. We searched high and low， but couldn’
t find it. We later noticed that the floor drain cover was missing. Ashamsters are fond of burrowing， we guessed that Little Eight hadprobably mistaken the drain pipe， which was 50 meters long and randown to the second floor， for a tunnel. When we looked down， sureenough we could see a little golden thing on a platform on the secondfloor. The family felt deeply sorry for its death. “We should put it ina box and bury it under a tree，” Mother told Zhou Fan. Other peoplemight think it was a little unnecessary to treat a dead hamster likethis. Anyway， we did as Mother told us and held a simple， solemn“funeral” for the rodent. By doing so， we expressed our regret for nottaking a better care of the little thing. Our hamsters multiplied to “LittleFifteen”。
12 0 The Green BibleTang and Marcia published their first book in 1986， both in Chinaand abroad. This book drew great attention from all over and madeTang’s name known to foreign environmental organizations and environmentalists.