Consul General’s Remarks in Zhenjiang at the 70th Anniversary of the Awarding of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Pearl S. Buck

October 18, 2008

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Zhenjiang Party Secretary Ms. Xu Jinrong, and Zhenjiang Acting Mayor Mr. Liu Handong for hosting this event today.  Since arriving in Shanghai last month, this is only my second trip outside of the city; I greatly appreciate the chance to visit this wonderful town.  Thank you for inviting me.

I’d also like to acknowledge the members of the board of Pearl S. Buck International here today and the members of the Pearl Buck Foundation who are here from across East Asia.  It’s wonderful to have such a diverse group for this celebration. 

When Pearl Buck accepted her Nobel Prize in Stockholm in 1938 she said, “a story belongs to the people”.    When you consider that a book written over 70 years ago is still read and treasured around the world, it is clear that people have taken her story to heart.   Pearl Buck, however, did more than write an affecting, vivid story; she also introduced Americans as well as many other nationalities to a new and unknown world:  China, and more specifically, the life of ordinary peasants in rural China.   Buck was unique in this choice of subject; few others at that time, including Chinese authors, focused on peasant lives.   The fact that rural well being is today a topic of great interest to Chinese policy makers is yet another example of Buck’s continued relevance today.   

Pearl Buck was uniquely qualified to write about this world.   Buck came to Zhenjiang with her parents as an infant and lived here until she was seventeen years old.  She spoke Chinese before she spoke English.  Buck referred to herself as “mentally bifocal”: she was able to love and understand her homeland. America, and her adopted homeland, China, at the same time with no contradiction.  Her writings reflected this and helped shrink the gap between our countries for generations of Americans.  She was able to take a land that seemed impossibly foreign and far away to average Americans and make it recognizable and immediate.  The huge success of “The Good Earth” helped tens of millions of Americans feel a connection with China and Chinese people that they had never had before. 

Today, 70 years after Pearl Buck received the Nobel Prize, China is booming.  The number of resident Americans as well as travelers and students visiting China has exploded, while the number of Chinese studying and traveling in the US has reached a level that would have been inconceivable in the 1938.    And yet Pearl Buck’s writings are still relevant; I just learned that my 14-year-old niece is reading “The Good Earth” in her world literature course in Falls Church, Virginia.    I promised to send her class some photos from Zhenjiang.

Today, we meet to commemorate Pearl Buck’s legacy and recognize the important role she played in bringing the American and Chinese people closer together.  Pearl S. Buck saw herself as a mere storyteller; we see her as a visionary who helped us reach this day when the people of her two homelands enjoy greater mutual understanding and mutual benefit.  We can all be grateful for Pearl Buck’s contributions and take inspiration from her life as we continue to build bridges between our countries.

Thank you.