China Daily: Pearl S Buck's literary works guide China-US people-to-people exchanges
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Pearl S. Buck
Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker Buck was an American writer and humanitarian. She is best known for The Good Earth, the best-selling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932, which won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938, Buck became the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China" and for her "masterpieces", two m…
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culture · American writer (1892–1973) · translator · novelist · autobiographer · human rights defender · screenwriter · journalist · children's writer · writer · missionary · prose writer · also Pearl S. Buck, Pearl Buck, Pearl Sydenstricker Buck, Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker, John Sedges, Pearl Sydenstricker
Born 26 June 1892 · Died 6 March 1973 · Q80900
90 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 6 entries
BUCKSCO.Today: From Pearl S. Buck to Chuck Wendig, Bucks County’s Literary Legacy Runs Deep
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“s relationship with her mother and father, stories that had been passed down through generations.”
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The Reporter: Pearl S. Buck House to celebrate America 250 with historic quilt exhibit
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The Reporter: Pearl S. Buck International to celebrate opening of new Green Hills Farm Arboretum
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The Reporter: Pearl S. Buck International receives inaugural Rain Poetry grant from PA Humanities
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2014· 2 entries
The Buffalo News: An inspiring visit to Pennsylvania home of Pearl S. Buck
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Buffalo News: An inspiring visit to Pennsylvania home of Pearl S. Buck
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1998· 3 entries
“Quando si comincia a vendere la terra [...] è la fine di una famiglia. Dalla terra siamo venuti, e alla terra dobbiamo tornare... Se conserverete la terra, vivrete... Nessuno potrà mai portarvela via... (cap. XXXIV, 1998, p. 291)”
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“Che cosa dobbiamo farcene di una donna bella? Una donna che curi la casa, e che procrei dei figli lavorando – ecco quel che ci occorre! Le donne belle non hanno altro pensiero che scegliersi vestiti che s'intonino con la loro faccia. Alla larga! Noi siamo contadini. (cap. I, 1998, p. 9)”
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“Meglio arrivare primi con una donna brutta, che centesimi con una bella. (cap. I, 1998, p. 9)”
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1983· 1 entry
With a 5¢ Great Americans series postage stamp issued by the United States Postal Service In 1999 she was designated a Women's History Month Honoree by the National Women's History Project
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1973· 25 entries
Awarded National Women's Hall of Fame (1973).
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Died 1973-03-06.
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“There should be a deep attachment, heart should be tied to heart between parent and child, for unless the child learns how to love a parent profoundly, I believe that he will never learn how to love anyone else profoundly, and not knowing how to love means the loss of the meaning of life and its fulfillment.”
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“Le persone che provano a vivere da sole non avranno successo come esseri umani. I loro cuori inaridiranno se non risponderanno ad altri cuori. Le loro menti si restringeranno se ascolteranno solo l'eco dei propri pensieri senza altra fonte d'ispirazione.”
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“Many people lose the small joys in hope for the big happiness.”
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“Pengetahuan sejarah sedetail mungkin sangat penting jika kita ingin memahami masa kini dan bersiap menghadapi masa depan.”
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“Quando cessa a vigilância e os esforços dos bons em todo o país, os homens maus predominam.”
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“Soffrirai perché niente dura, ecco tutto. È la dannazione finale alla quale cerchiamo di sfuggire per tutta la vita.”
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“El afán de perfección hace a algunas personas totalmente insoportables.”
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“An intelligent, energetic, educated woman cannot be kept in four walls — even satin-lined, diamond-studded walls — without discovering sooner or later that they are still a prison cell.”
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“No pots ser feliç fins que no entenguis que la vida es trista.”
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“Knowledge of history as detailed as possible is essential if we are to comprehend the present and be prepared for the future.”
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“Ogni grande errore ha un momento a metà strada, una frazione di secondo in cui si può annullare e forse rimediare.”
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“De todos los peligros, el mayor es subestimar al enemigo.”
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“Hi ha una paraula que pot servir per a la vostra vida: és la paraula reciprocitat.”
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“Harus ada ikatan yang mendalam, hati tersambung dengan hati antara orang tua dan anak, karena kecuali anak belajar mencintai orang tuanya dengan sungguh-sungguh, saya percaya ia tidak akan pernah belajar mencintai orang lain dengan mendalam, dan tidak tahu cara mencintai berarti kehilangan makna hidup dan pemenuhannya.”
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“Nessuno che sia sempre stato libero può comprendere il terribile fascino della speranza di libertà per chi non è libero.”
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“Ningú dels que han estat sempre lliures no pot entendre el terrible poder fascinant de l'esperança d'aquells que no ho són.”
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“The young do not know enough to be prudent, and so they attempt the impossible, and achieve it, generation after generation.”
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“The truth is always exciting. Speak it, then. Life is dull without it.”
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“There was an old abbot in one temple and he said something of which I think often and it was this, that when men destroy their old gods they will find new ones to take their place.”
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Buck was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame
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“When good people in any country cease their vigilance and struggle, then evil men prevail”
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“Muitas pessoas perdem as pequenas alegrias enquanto aguardam a grande felicidade.”
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“I love people. I love my family, my children … but inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that's where you renew your springs that never dry up.”
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1972· 3 entries
“China, Past and Present (1972) Ch. 1”
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“China, Past and Present (1972) Ch. 6”
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Reportedly due to political interference by Jiang Qing, a prominent figure in the denunciation of Buck
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1967· 1 entry
Turned over most of her earnings—more than $7 million— to the adoption agency to help with costs
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1966· 3 entries
“The Little Fox in the Middle”
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“TV interview, The Merv Griffin Show, RITY Archive (1966)”
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“The Joy of Children (1966)”
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1964· 3 entries
Awarded Horatio Alger Award (1964).
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Opened the Opportunity Center and Orphanage in South Korea, and later offices were opened in Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam
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“Children for Adoption (1964). Ch. 3”
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1962· 2 entries
“A Bridge for Passing (1962)”
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Buck asked the Israeli Government for clemency for Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi war criminal who was one of the main architects of the murder of six million Jews during World War II, as she and others believed that carrying
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1961· 1 entry
“The Commander and the Commissar”
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1960· 2 entries
After a long decline in health that included a series of strokes, Buck's husband Richard Walsh died
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“The purpose ... is to publicize and eliminate injustices and prejudices suffered by children, who, because of their birth, are not permitted to enjoy the educational, social, economic and civil privileges normally accorded to children.”
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1959· 1 entry
“The Bomb (Dr. Arthur Compton)”
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1955· 2 entries
“Christmas Day in the Morning”
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“(New York: John Day, 1954) “Christmas Day in the Morning”
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1953· 1 entry
“The Couple Who Lived on the Moon”
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1951· 1 entry
And an Afro-Japanese girl in 1957, giving her eight children in total
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1950· 2 entries
“The Child Who Never Grew (1950)”
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“The Child Who Never Grew (1950), Ch. 2”
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1949· 2 entries
Buck was repeatedly refused all attempts to return to her beloved China
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After finding that existing adoption services considered Asian and mixed-race children unadoptable, Buck founded the first permanent foster home for US-born mixed-race children of Asian descent, naming it The Welcome Hom
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1942· 2 entries
“China and the Federal Union" an address at the Federal Union organization, New York City (April 1942)”
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“Mrs. Barclay's Christmas Present”
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1941· 2 entries
“Of Men and Women (1941), Ch. 4”
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“Of Men and Women (1941), Ch. 8”
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1938· 6 entries
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature — for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces.
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Awarded Nobel Prize in Literature (1938).
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“America's Medieval Women," Harper's Magazine (August 1938)”
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“Harper’s Magazine (August 1938), p. 232”
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Buck became the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China" and for her "masterpieces", two memoir-biographies of her missionary parents
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“Nobel lecture (12 December 1938)”
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1936· 1 entry
And followed by another son and daughter in 1937
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1935· 5 entries
Won William Dean Howells Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1935).
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And she married Richard Walsh that same day
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Was altogether impressed: "But we may say at least that for the interest of her chosen material, the sustained high level of her technical skill, and the frequent universality of her conceptions, Mrs
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“The Creative Mind at Work," William Vaughn Moody Foundation Lecture at the University of Chicago (January 1935)”
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Buck married the publisher Richard J
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1934· 1 entry
Buck left China, believing she would return, while her husband remained
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1932· 1 entry
Awarded Pulitzer Prize for the Novel for The Good Earth (1932).
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1931· 1 entry
And 1932, which won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1932
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1929· 1 entry
To find long-term care for Carol, eventually placing her in the Vineland Training School in New Jersey
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1925· 1 entry
The Bucks adopted a child named Janice (later surnamed Walsh)
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1924· 1 entry
Left China for John Buck's year of sabbatical and returned to the United States for a short time, during which Pearl Buck earned a master's degree from Cornell University
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1921· 1 entry
Buck's mother died of a tropical disease, sprue, and shortly afterward her father moved in
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1920· 1 entry
The Bucks had a daughter, Carol, who was afflicted with phenylketonuria that left her severely developmentally disabled
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1917· 1 entry
And they moved to Suzhou, Anhui Province, a small town on the Huai River (not to be confused with the better-known Suzhou in Jiangsu Province)
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1911· 1 entry
Buck left China to attend Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1914 and was a member of Kappa Delta sorority
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1896· 1 entry
Moving to Zhenjiang, which was then known as Chingkiang in the Chinese postal romanization system, near the major city of Nanjing
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1892· 1 entry
Born 1892-06-26.
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1880· 1 entry
And moved to China shortly thereafter, but returned to the United States for Pearl's birth
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