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China as I See It
xii + 305 pp. Numbered, limited, edition. "Jacket designed by the Etheredges"
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
About the author
Pearl S. Buck
838 books3,236 followersPearl Comfort Sydenstricker Buck was an American writer and novelist. She is best known for The Good Earth, the best-selling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and 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 memoir-biographies of her missionary parents.
Buck was born in West Virginia, but in October 1892, her parents took their 4-month-old baby to China. As the daughter of missionaries and later as a missionary herself, Buck spent most of her life before 1934 in Zhenjiang, with her parents, and in Nanjing, with her first husband. She and her parents spent their summers in a villa in Kuling, Mount Lu, Jiujiang, and it was during this annual pilgrimage that the young girl decided to become a writer. She graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, then returned to China. From 1914 to 1932, after marrying John Lossing Buck she served as a Presbyterian missionary, but she came to doubt the need for foreign missions. Her views became controversial during the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy, leading to her resignation. After returning to the United States in 1935, she married the publisher Richard J. Walsh and continued writing prolifically. She became an activist and prominent advocate of the rights of women and racial equality, and wrote widely on Chinese and Asian cultures, becoming particularly well known for her efforts on behalf of Asian and mixed-race adoption.
Buck was born in West Virginia, but in October 1892, her parents took their 4-month-old baby to China. As the daughter of missionaries and later as a missionary herself, Buck spent most of her life before 1934 in Zhenjiang, with her parents, and in Nanjing, with her first husband. She and her parents spent their summers in a villa in Kuling, Mount Lu, Jiujiang, and it was during this annual pilgrimage that the young girl decided to become a writer. She graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, then returned to China. From 1914 to 1932, after marrying John Lossing Buck she served as a Presbyterian missionary, but she came to doubt the need for foreign missions. Her views became controversial during the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy, leading to her resignation. After returning to the United States in 1935, she married the publisher Richard J. Walsh and continued writing prolifically. She became an activist and prominent advocate of the rights of women and racial equality, and wrote widely on Chinese and Asian cultures, becoming particularly well known for her efforts on behalf of Asian and mixed-race adoption.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 1, 2017
This turns out to be my final review of 2016, so it's nice for it to be a truly "good read" for a Darth Vader type of year (just leave, 2016, just leave).
Pearl S. Buck was the child of missionaries and she grew up in China before being forced to leave in 1934, when all hell broke out (again). This book is a collection of her speeches and essays about China from the 1930s to the 1950s, plus a concluding chapter from the early 1970s. For anyone interested in Chinese history from the 20th Century, this is an excellent read, one which had me fully absorbed.
Buck brings to light some observations not only about China, but about the Americans and the world itself. She was ahead of her time in regards to race relations, also, and here are some of the areas she discusses in her essays and speeches.
Are We Really That Different?
...I shall proceed to my first broad generalization, which is probably no more true than most generalizations, but one has to make some sort of foundation.
In this chapter, Buck states that instead of comparing the Chinese against the Americans, one must instead lump them together and compare them against the Japanese and English. This is because the Yanks are more alike with their Chinese brethren, due to the fact that the citizens of each country live in countries where travel takes longer to accomplish between destinations and vast mountain ranges and deserts create sectional differences. By contrast, the Japanese are more in kin to the English due to island life which compels structure within a smaller space against a surrounding sea of water. Smaller geography led both countries to build empires as a way of gaining that extra space, while the Chinese and Americans share a 'love today hate tomorrow' outlook. When I was reading this, I found myself agreeing, realizing the elegance of manners and traditions the Japanese and English share (teatime, for example) against the mad-dash work ethics of the Chinese and Americans. Although this was from the 1930s, she could easily be writing in the 21st Century.
...circumstances determine morals.
Americans And Race Relations
Pearl S. Buck was ahead of her time, when she writes about Americans and their inability to recognize that someone with a darker tone of skin is not a lesser being. She is amazed to find that in the nation's capital, Washington D.C., African-Americans had to use separate entrances. She said she expected that in the South, but not in the city where the White House stood. Buck brings this up to explain that the Chinese could not expect the Americans to be in any way superior if they couldn't even treat their own citizens the same. I don't believe Buck made many friends in some political circles.
Expectations After The War
No one who goes with a mission to a people ever learns anything about them, neither what they are nor what they want.
Buck spends some time thinking about the post-WWII world, which she knew the Americans would win and dominate. Her fear was that the United States was turning from a fairly naïve nation into one dominated by military leaders. She predicted the Korean War and the Vietnam War, as Americans would want to put their stamp on the globe. She felt this would undo the good reputation the Yanks had within China, where they had never fought and angered the Chinese, as the English, French, and Dutch had. Just as Churchill wrote in his own books on WWII, the English were not as concerned with the welfare of China, just concerned with keeping their empire. Roosevelt, by contrast, angered Churchill by always mentioning China and how it would need to be an equal after the war. This made Buck appear to be anti-English, but she wasn't, she simply saw a new world order. She also highlights a very simple point about the conflict that would take place in Korea...how would Americans like it if China or the Soviet Union suddenly moved into Mexico?
Barriers make wars, but gateways make peace.
I learnt so much from this book. Her historical lesson on the last Chinese Emperors, Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek, and Chairman Mao is helpful in understanding how much China has changed over the last 100 years. She can be cheeky too, noting that the United States would never be good at empire building, as Americans simply can't concentrate that long (so true). She predicted the end of the Maoist world, though I wonder if she could have ever thought of China becoming even more capitalist than the United States. Through it all, she spells out the defining culture of the average Chinese citizen and their love of land and independence with their innate good sense and practical ability. A good start to understanding China and its place in the world.
Book Season = Spring (good earth)
Pearl S. Buck was the child of missionaries and she grew up in China before being forced to leave in 1934, when all hell broke out (again). This book is a collection of her speeches and essays about China from the 1930s to the 1950s, plus a concluding chapter from the early 1970s. For anyone interested in Chinese history from the 20th Century, this is an excellent read, one which had me fully absorbed.
Buck brings to light some observations not only about China, but about the Americans and the world itself. She was ahead of her time in regards to race relations, also, and here are some of the areas she discusses in her essays and speeches.
Are We Really That Different?
...I shall proceed to my first broad generalization, which is probably no more true than most generalizations, but one has to make some sort of foundation.
In this chapter, Buck states that instead of comparing the Chinese against the Americans, one must instead lump them together and compare them against the Japanese and English. This is because the Yanks are more alike with their Chinese brethren, due to the fact that the citizens of each country live in countries where travel takes longer to accomplish between destinations and vast mountain ranges and deserts create sectional differences. By contrast, the Japanese are more in kin to the English due to island life which compels structure within a smaller space against a surrounding sea of water. Smaller geography led both countries to build empires as a way of gaining that extra space, while the Chinese and Americans share a 'love today hate tomorrow' outlook. When I was reading this, I found myself agreeing, realizing the elegance of manners and traditions the Japanese and English share (teatime, for example) against the mad-dash work ethics of the Chinese and Americans. Although this was from the 1930s, she could easily be writing in the 21st Century.
...circumstances determine morals.
Americans And Race Relations
Pearl S. Buck was ahead of her time, when she writes about Americans and their inability to recognize that someone with a darker tone of skin is not a lesser being. She is amazed to find that in the nation's capital, Washington D.C., African-Americans had to use separate entrances. She said she expected that in the South, but not in the city where the White House stood. Buck brings this up to explain that the Chinese could not expect the Americans to be in any way superior if they couldn't even treat their own citizens the same. I don't believe Buck made many friends in some political circles.
Expectations After The War
No one who goes with a mission to a people ever learns anything about them, neither what they are nor what they want.
Buck spends some time thinking about the post-WWII world, which she knew the Americans would win and dominate. Her fear was that the United States was turning from a fairly naïve nation into one dominated by military leaders. She predicted the Korean War and the Vietnam War, as Americans would want to put their stamp on the globe. She felt this would undo the good reputation the Yanks had within China, where they had never fought and angered the Chinese, as the English, French, and Dutch had. Just as Churchill wrote in his own books on WWII, the English were not as concerned with the welfare of China, just concerned with keeping their empire. Roosevelt, by contrast, angered Churchill by always mentioning China and how it would need to be an equal after the war. This made Buck appear to be anti-English, but she wasn't, she simply saw a new world order. She also highlights a very simple point about the conflict that would take place in Korea...how would Americans like it if China or the Soviet Union suddenly moved into Mexico?
Barriers make wars, but gateways make peace.
I learnt so much from this book. Her historical lesson on the last Chinese Emperors, Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek, and Chairman Mao is helpful in understanding how much China has changed over the last 100 years. She can be cheeky too, noting that the United States would never be good at empire building, as Americans simply can't concentrate that long (so true). She predicted the end of the Maoist world, though I wonder if she could have ever thought of China becoming even more capitalist than the United States. Through it all, she spells out the defining culture of the average Chinese citizen and their love of land and independence with their innate good sense and practical ability. A good start to understanding China and its place in the world.
Book Season = Spring (good earth)
October 22, 2023
This book is a collection of articles and speeches Pearl wrote over some decades informing the American public about Chinese culture, etc from her unique perspective, having grown up there and lived there for about 40 years. My favorite was one preparing American GIs for the culture and different areas of the country.
Want to Read
March 4, 2018I procrastinate, and you had to go back to the library 😢
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews