Draped in the cloaks of the academic elite, Ran Yidong and Ji Weihong look like many others on graduation day.
But the couple's struggles to complete their PhDs in New Zealand makes their success story extraordinary.
Ji left her home at Lanzhou in China's Gansu province to study in NewZealand under a much-sought-after scholarship, which she began in 1995. While she was desperately trying to gain New Zealand residency, her husband, Ran, was not allowed to leave China.
The Government finally granted him permission to join her in 1997.
As Ji now carries out post-doctorate research at Auckland University and Ran does research in plant genetics for a commercial company, the pair can put their past tribulations behind them and focus on contributing valuable scientific research to New Zealand.
Ji became involved in pest control in China because it was a big issue. She studied a rabbit-like rodent called pika in southeast China.
When she arrived in New Zealand, she told her university supervisor she would like to look at pest control because it was something she already knew about.
Her New Zealand research included work on Browns Island, in the Hauraki Gulf, investigating the problem of rat infestation.
More recently, she has looked at the mating system of possums at Coatesville and Huapai.
Ji said rodents in New Zealand seemed much bigger than those in China. She likes possums, even though they have sharp claws, can bite and are a pest.
But she does not like rats. "I hate their tails."
Ji is writing a book about her life. In China, her parents were doctors and were sent to Tibet as a punishment for being academics under the Communist regime.
The couple said they liked their new life and home, but missed their family and friends.
