We provide a brief synopsis of Mary Dawson's contributions to vertebrate paleontology in China through her fieldwork, research, and repeated fostering of international collaborations, some of which are ongoing. Dawson and her Chinese and American colleagues carried out a series of successful expeditions during the 1990s, notably including work at the middle Eocene Shanghuang fissure-fillings in southern Jiangsu Province and in the middle Eocene Heti Formation, Yuanqu Basin, Shanxi and Henan Provinces. Dawson's research on Chinese fossil vertebrates focused on reconstructing the origin and evolution of Glires, although she also made important contributions to our knowledge of other mammalian taxa and to biogeographic relationships among Holarctic mammals in general. Her efforts continue to bear fruit, both in terms of her own research and that of her numerous colleagues and students.