Pearl Buck in China

by Hilary Spurling

  111 “How can we save her PB, letter to Mrs. Coffin, December 12, 1918, NSC.

  112 “The average is three or four PB, letter to Bucks, March 15, 1919, NSC; see also MSW, 146.

  112 “hard-featured, envious, curious Chester, Light and Shadows of the Mission World, 49.

  112 “It is the supreme moment “A Brief Statement concerning the Need of a New Station in the Province of Anhwei, China,” by Thomas Carter n.d. [1911], PHS.

  113 “It is just the sort of mission life T. Carter, letter to Dr. Coffin, December 5, 1912, PHS. The next two quotes are from letters of March 30, 1914 and December 10, 1914.

  113 “By that time so many people This and the next quote are from MGC interview, NSC.

  114 “We both… have the best JLB, letter to Clifford Buck, July 27, 1922, NSC.

  114 “They just hit the ceiling MGC interview, NSC; JLB, letter to Bucks, January 12, 1919, NSC.

  114 “To my horror PB letter to Bucks, March 15, 1919, NSC.

  115 “He did not, as she did Ex, 152.

  115 “I felt the Calvinism This and the next two quotes are from MGC, letter to Nora Stirling, February 14, 1976, NSC.

  116 “‘Everywhere I went FA, 155.

  117 “You can’t imagine MGC interview, NSC.

  117 The Bucks had barely settled in—JLB, letters to Bucks, June 29, 1919, and January 27, 1921, NSC; MSW, 152–53.

  117 “Imagine two, four FA, 53.

  118 “her unusual beauty CWNG, 8.

  118 “like a magnificat ED, 141. For the return to the United States in summer 1920, see ED, 142, MSW, 213.

  118 “I hear chewing gum This and the next quote are from ED, 146.

  119 “she said with a quiet Ex, 307; for CS on America, and her rejection of AS, see Ex, 310.

  119 “Something blinded her TN, 117.

  119 “When I think of her dying MSW, 160.

  119 “Any Chinese who reads this John C. H. Wu in T’ien Hsia Monthly, Shanghai, vol. 2, no. 4, April 1936, 394.

  120 “Fiction is a painting THi, 204.

  120 “I drew the curtain at last EWWW, 246.

  120 “I had to get rid of SS, 191.

  120 “death sat TN, 110. The next two quotes are TN, 96, 129.

  121 “Young in spirit to the end Ex, 314–15. On the writing of The Exile, see MSW, 161–62; ED, 149; THi, 203.

  122 “She was beginning already Ex, 78. The next four quotes are from Ex, 72, 278, 281, 279–82.

  CHAPTER 5

  All quotes not otherwise attributed in this chapter come from interviews with Nora Stirling, NSC.

  125 “too large and somewhat graceless MSW, 176.

  125 “The living room, large as it was ED, 144. My account of the house and garden is based on MSW, 157, 176, 189, 204; PB, letter to Bucks, November 18, 1920; Margaret Bear’s letters home: October 22, 1923, April 13, 1923, May 25, 1924, all in NSC.

  126 “I admired her This and the next quote come from interviews with Margaret Bear and Lillieth Bates, NSC.

  126 “not books lining the wall Review of The Good Earth, by Alice Tisdale Hobart; Saturday Review, July 20, 1931. The encounter described here took place in 1926.

  127 “I remember quite clearly MSW, 162.

  127 In the early morning MSW, 163, from “In China Too,” (reprinted in MSW, 162–67).

  128 “I saw such things MSW, 154.

  128 The other day I stood MSW, 171, from “Beauty in China,” by PB, Forum, March 1924 (reprinted in MSW, 167–175).

  129 “It was natural to me MSW, 17.

  129 “I am very proud of her JLB, letter to Bucks, February 18, 1923, NSC.

  129 a work space of her own GY interview, NSC; “Pearl S. Buck,” by EW, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College Alumni Bulletin, February 1939, 7.

  130 “His place is in the street.” From PB’s 1938 Nobel lecture, “The Chinese Novel,” in THi, 238.

  130 “She made things so much easier This and the next quote are from Margaret Bear interview, NSC.

  131 “We depended on her for solutions This and the next two quotes are from interviews with Lillieth Bates and James Bear respectively, NSC.

  131 “That part of the household This and the next quote are from ED, 157. For the gardener, see MSW, 157–58.

  132 “‘I came to you,’ the woman said MSW, 194. For the child’s birth and subsequent misfortunes, see MSW 195–96.

  132 “She declared that her life MSW, 222. See also pp. 221, 223, and 232–33. Mrs. Lu was apparently the same person as Li Sao-tse (Sao-tse, Sadze, or—in current Pinyin transliteration—Saozi means wife), who later married as her second husband the cook Li Hua (alternatively known as Chu) and went to work for the Thomson family, who called her Tsu Sadze or Ch’u Sao-tse (James Thomson and Nancy Thomson Waller interviews, NSC). She was forty-four in 1927, according to a letter from PB to JLB’s mother, 23.8.28, NSC.

  133 “This illiterate woman “Pearl S. Buck and the American Quest for China,” by James C. Thomson, in The Several Worlds of Pearl S. Buck: Essays Produced at a Symposium, Randolph Macon Woman’s College, March 26–28, 1992, ed. Elizabeth Johnston Lipscomb, Frances E. Webb, and Peter Conn, Greenwood Press, Connecticut, 1994, 11.

  133 “It is the Chinese THi, 218; the next quote is from THi, 236.

  133 “notoriously filthy Rev. James Graham, Zhenjiang, letter to Presbyterian Mission Board, February 4, 1933, PHS.

  134 “not so often from THi, 226. All Men Are Brothers was the title PB gave to her translation of Shui Hu Chuan, or The Water Margins.

  134 “Only a person Alice Hobart, Saturday Review, July 26, 1931, 13.

  134 “I could buy a basketful MSW, 179.

  134 “they alone knew THi, 218.

  135 “they provided for me MSW, 179.

  135 “I learned far more MSW, 177.

  136 “Yuan, wrapped in his greatcoat HD, 300.

  136 “Wen-li is a dead language Review by AS of the bishop of Shanghai’s Wen-li Bible, CR 31, June 1900; the next quote is from his review of the Revised Mandarin New Testament, CR 39, 1908, 268.

  137 “a beautifully clear and graceful MSW, 178. See also MSW, 152. Opposition came from the Critical Review, founded in 1922 by conservatives at Nanjing’s Higher Normal College.

  137 spoke and thought in pei-hua MSW, 275.

  137 “The beautiful cadences SS, 138,

  137 Nanjing Agricultural College “Blueprint for Nanjing Agricultural College” by Joseph Bailie and J. E. Williams, University of Nanking, October 16, 1912, PHS; for JLB, see Development of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nanking, 1922–46, by JLB, Ithaca, New York, 1973; “John Lossing Buck and Agricultural Economics at Nanjing University,” chapter 9 in Jingji Xue: The History of the Introduction of Western Economic Ideas to China, 1850–1950, by Paul B. Trescott, Hong Kong, 2007.

  138 “They not only knew nothing MSW, 188.

  138 “If you want to improve it This and the next two quotes are from “In Memory of Professor Buck,” typescript, by R. H. Tsui (Cui Yujun in current transliteration), kindly translated for me by Ye Gongping, Nanjing University, 1991.

  138 “They are feeling JLB, letter to Bucks, January 4, 1922, NSC.

  139 A young Chinese colleague Liang Shih-chiu, letter to Nora Stirling, January 12, 1978, NSC; EW interview, NSC.

  140 “she wore a long cotton gown EWWW 104; the following quotes from EWWW, 151, 38, 32, 51, 94.

  141 Dr. Sydenstricker AS had an honorary doctorate from Washington and Lee.

  141 “It did not occur to him MSW, 187.

  142 “The North Kiangsu Mission Half Our Burden: Report of North Kiangsu Mission, Shanghai, 1915, 25, PHS.

  142 “He went his way FA, 53–54.

  143 “His lips were moving TN, 201.

  143 “In a sort of stupor FA, 252; the next quote is from FA, 254. PB’s reconstruction of this affair in FA, 162–68, 170–71, is powerful but biased and full of inaccuracies corrected by James Bear’s eyewitness account in “The Mission Work of the Presbyterian Church in C
hina, 1567–1952,” unpublished ms., vol. 5, 156, 167, Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia, and James Bear interview, NSC. For the retirement rule, see Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the North Kiangsu Mission, Shanghai, 1922, 13, PHS.

  143 “It was only by much contriving ED, 147. For the seminary correspondence course, see FA, 256–59, 263–64; OLW, 53; History of Nanjing Theological Seminary, 1911–61, by Frank Wilson Price, New York, 1961, 10.

  144 “All his life MSW, 54–56.

  144 “He spoke Chinese as few FA, 51–52.

  144 “He had a remarkable mind Typescript obituary by PB, 1931, NSC.

  144 “He talked more FA, 43; preface by GY to OLW.

  145 “I put relentlessly aside FA, 47. The next quote is from FA, 10.

  145 “He espoused early a cause FA, 56.

  145 “Kill Sydenstricker!” Review of The Exile by Nettie du Bose, The Presbyterian, November 4, 1936.

  146 Carol Buck See CWNG, 31 et passim; interviews with James and Margaret Bear, Lillieth Bates, Helen Daniels, John Reisner Jr., Nancy Thomson, and Emma White, NSC.

  146 “I was to have nearly four years MSW, 158.

  147 “She was three years old CWNG, 8–9; the next quote is from CWNG, 10.

  147 “In spite of my terror CWNG, 12.

  147 “A Chinese Woman Speaks,” See preface to FW; MSW, 201 (where this story is confused with its sequel).

  148 “You will wear out your life CWNG, 19. The next two quotes are from CWNG, 19, 18.

  148 “as though she were laying TN, 296. For Ithaca, see MSW, 201–2; the next quote is from MSW, 201. On adopting a baby, see MSW, 203; THi 125.

  150 “Quite coldbloodedly I asked MSW, 202. For “China and the West,” see The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 168, July 1933, Philadelphia, 1933, 119–31. The original prize-winning essay was submitted under the pseudonym “David Barnes.”

  150 “I got back my faith MSW, 203.

  150 “Endurance is only CWNG, 1. The next quote is from CWNG, 28.

  151 “None of it meant anything CWNG, 27.

  151 “She was frantic IW, 141.

  151 “Books, I remember CWNG, 29.

  151 “Agony has become static Note dated April 1940 in THi, 279.

  151 “It is not shame PB, letter to EW, July 29, 1931, NSC.

  151 “She would sleep a little TN, 296.

  152 “My own sympathies MSW, 198–99. The next three quotes from MSW, 186, 192, 196.

  153 “You take Washington DC—A. B. Lewis interview, NSC.

  153 “all about the country HD, 122.

  154 “Lao Wang, the Farmer,” CR, 57, April 1926, 237–44. For the novel, see THi, 128.

  154 “we are living… in fear JLB, letter to Mission Board, March 6, 1927, NSC. Texts of telegrams sent to the U.S. government and the Church Council by JLB’s Fellowship of Reconciliation, organized with J. Reisner, Claude Thomson, and Searle Bates, in JLB, letter to Bucks, February 12, 1927; see also B. Reisner interview, NSC.

  155 Grace and her husband JLB, letter to Bucks, February 12, 1927, NSC.

  155 his students were afraid JLB, letter to Mission Board, March 6, 1927, NSC.

  155 “All Bolshevist propaganda W. J. Drummond, letter to J. Addison Henry, Memorial Church, Overbrook, Philadelphia, February 15, 1927, PHS.

  155 “There at the bridge “The Revolutionist,” by PB, Asia, vol, 28, no. 9, September 1928 (reprinted as “Wang Lung” in FW).

  155 “bandits in uniform—This and the next quote are from JLB, letter to Mission Board, March 6, 1927, NSC.

  156 “The people fear the Northern army Mrs. J. E. Williams, letter to Mrs. Dim-mock, Mission Board, March 9, 1927.

  156 “It was not conscious pretence FA, 274.

  156 “I… laughed MSW, 210; the next quote is from MSW, 211.

  157 “It was a strange night ED, 159. My account of the Nanjing incident is based on eyewitness testimony in JLB’s letters to his parents (February 12 and April 15, 1927) and to the Mission Board (March 6 and April 15, 1927), and PB’s Mission Board report (April 13, 1927), PHS; contemporary typescript reports by W. J. Drummond, “The Nanjing Incident of March 24, 1927”; C. Stanley Smith; and A. R. Kepler, “Nanjing—Four Months After,” PHS; 1970s interviews with JLB, the Thomson family, and others, NSC; MSW, 210–17; ED, 158–62.

  158 “I cannot well describe PB, letter to Mission Board, April 13, 1927, NSC.

  158 “howling together GE, 144.

  158 “Worse than death ED, 161.

  158 “we had given ourselves up PB, letter to EW, May 19, 1927, NSC.

  159 “He… fell at once MSW, 213.

  159 “each thinking that now ED, 162; and see CWNG, 30.

  159 “They were all young MSW, 214.

  160 “looted clean C. Stanley Smith, letter to Mission Board, 1927, PHS.

  161 “My roots MSW, 217–18.

  161 “It was a godsend JLB interview, NSC. For the lost novel, see MSW, 209; PB letter to EW, November 12, 1954, NSC.

  161 “I fret sometimes PB, letter to GY, January 1, 1941, NSC; ED, 219–20.

  CHAPTER 6

  162 “Almost every night JLB, letter to Bucks, April 15, 1927, NSC.

  162 “But the longer time goes on This and the next quote are from PB, letter to B. Reisner, April 16, 1927, NSC.

  163 “When I saw her MSW, 221.

  163 “The little cottage ED, 164.

  163 “I can’t imagine why THi, 136. For this trip, see MSW, 223–24; CWNG, 35, JLB interview, NSC.

  164 “I have the habit of forgetting My Mother’s House, by PB, 1981, 11. The following amnesiac quotes are from MSW, 36, 81, 91, 221, 200.

  165 “That Shanghai Christmas MSW, 231.

  15 “embossed with a spare branch This and the following quote from “Christmas Away from Home,” article, no provenance, NSC.

  165 “We feel that helping the farmer This and the next quote are from “The Building of a Rural Church,” CR 58, July 1927, 408.

  166 “The farming implements “Indigenous Country Evangelism,” by AS, CR 59, July 1928, 435–39. For PB’s identical opinion, see MSW, 139.

  166 “I do think she had a bad time This and the next two quotes are from Lillieth Bates interview NSC. On JLB’s refusal to leave China, see PB, letter to EW, January 4, 1929, NSC.

  166 “She entered very much GY interview NSC. JLB interview, NSC, confirms this.

  166 “I’m not going to fail TPH, 125.

  166 “I should like to tell you PB, letter to Bucks [summer 1917], NSC. The next quote is from PB, letter to Bucks, September 20, [1925], NSC.

  167 “His house explained so much PB, letter to MCG, January 16, 1936, NSC.

  167 “You’d have to understand Clifford Buck NS interview, January 5, 1976, NSC.

  167 “It was Mr. Holm’s hands Other Gods, by PB [1938], Toronto, 1940, 82, 200. For PB’s confirmation that this book was based on her own first marriage, see THi, 258.

  168 “a tall, thick-necked, oafish TN, 180. The next quote is from TN, 186.

  168 “I clung to it CWNG, 30.

  168 state institution THi, 172; and see TN, 330.

  169 Interrogated by Pearl—For Lu Sadze’s second marriage, see MSW, 232–34, and interviews with Lillieth Bates, James Thomson, and Nancy Thomson Waller, NSC.

  169 “I have never seen the creative power ED, 165.

  169 “They hugged them Lillieth Bates interview, NSC.

  170 “Doubtless they felt CWNG, 26.

  170 “Hours every day ED, 154.

  170 “It’s not a crime CWNG, 21.

  170 “You can hear them almost Lillieth Bates interview, NSC.

  171 “She was not really learning CWNG, 36. The next quote is from CWNG, 49.

  171 “Missionaries in all Nationalist PB, letter to EW, April 4, 1928, NSC; JLB, letter to Mission Board, February 21, 1928, NSC.

  172 “He was a soldier MSW, 247, 253.

  172 “I feel as if I were living MSW, 230.

  172 “like
street dogs” This and the next three quotes are from HD, 67, 68, 331.

  173 “that brilliant mind This and the next quote are from MSW, 179.

  173 visit to Nanjing—Xu came from Peking to act as interpreter for Rabrindranath Tagore, who gave a single lecture in Nanjing on May 18 before leaving with Xu for the USSR. “Hsu Chi-Mo: Notes on a Biography,” by Chang Chun-Ku, type-script 1970, NSC.

  173 husband in “A Chinese Woman Speaks,” THi, 125.

  173 “sickening romanticism” MSW, 179. The next two quotes are from MSW, 178, 228–29.

  174 Agnes Smedley See Agnes Smedley, by J. R. MacKinnon and S. R. MacKinnon, London, 1988, 43, 366, n.17.

  174 “She was just the wife Christine Lewis interview, NSC.

  174 “more like my old self PB, letter to EW, January 4, 1928, NSC; Emma White interview, NSC.

  175 evidence for this affair—Nora Stirling claimed that the affair was confirmed by “Sara Burton” (pseudonym for Lilliath Bates), in PB’s correspondence with Emma Edmunds White and by an anonymous secretary in the United States (NS, 86), but there is nothing to support this in NSC, which contains emphatic refutations in writing by Prof. Liang Shi-chiu (January 12, 1978), who knew both Xu and PB, and by Xu’s friend and editor, Prof. Shau Wing Chan (April 14, 1979). All other interviewees denied the possibility, including Pearl’s sister, Grace (who changed her mind twenty years later, in her eighties; see PC, 103, 397, n. 63). There is no evidence to support allegations that Xu was either the nameless friend in the United States who urged PB to publish “A Chinese Woman Speaks” (NS, 67) or the anonymous Chinese in Nanjing who advised her not to cut GE (NS, 102–3).

  175 “She was stout Liang Shihchiu letter to NS, January 12, 1978, NSC.

  175 “she imagined herself THi, 125.

  175 hero of Letter from Peking THi, 82, 102. See also p. 67 in this book.

  175 “It is the privilege THi, 83.

  176 All previous bids—For PB’s publishing history, see FW, xx–xxii; MSW, 231; “Christmas Away from Home,” n.d., NSC.

  176 even the gardenia bushes MSW, 189.

  177 “Locked in behind these high walls EWWW, p 228–29. “Repatriated” is in FW.

  177 no intention of moving PB, letter to EW January 4, 1928, NSC.