I have recently married a Chinese national and I know I am entitled to a marriage visa which does limit my residence in China.

There's no such thing as a marriage visa, or to be more precise, a spouse visa, issued by the PSB.
I suggest you google for the Chinese visa office/embassy websites, and search some other forums by googling Chinese L visa/Z visa in order to get clued up before you visit a PSB office to find out in more detail what your rights are.
As for limiting your residence, your visa will do so until it expires - which is fair enough - that's why it's called a VISA! Actually, all visas have an expiry date, by the way, even a Z VISA!
Apply for a renewal before it expires, or you'll be fined 500 Yuan for each day of overstay, as well as have to exit the country, probably within 10 days. If you want to work while married, you'll need a Z, and a Residence Permit, to be legal. Accept that you have few special privileges on account of having a Chinese relative! Just the long L for visiting said relative, extendable locally for long periods, at most 360 days, but at least 90 days, up to the PSB - not YOU!
And you'll need to go to the PSB office in your wife's hukou area and 2 other police offices there to get that one, with loads of originals. You should apply for an L there on 2 counts, for 'visiting a relative' + for 'travelling'. No need to be a prisoner there with her in her hometown - after all, YOU'RE NOT a Chinese!
Oh, and go to the PSB with your wife, whom you should appoint as your agent! She can be your interpreter as the English spoken by the clerk there is likely to be pretty ropey! Try not to lose your temper there. It can take ages! Remember you are an alien in official terminology, and therefore have few rights!
I witnessed a shouting match between a Chinese applicant and a clerk in police uniform there the last time I had to renew my visa. Now, Chinese are usually less likely to go over the top than laowai, but that guy did! Seemingly his Chinese mother had been treated like dirt by the clerk, but he'd been abroad, so he could contrast the 2 situations, and did so!