Pearl of China

Pearl of China by Anchee Min is a fictionalized biography of Pearl S. Buck, the famous writer whose novels depict and celebrate the lives of Chinese peasants. The novel follows Pearl, a daughter of Christian missionaries living in China, and her friendship with a Chinese girl named Willow. They bond over their strange and corrupt fathers, and their shared girlhood aspirations. But soon, history gets in the way, and Pearl is forced to flee because of the Boxer Revolution. The tales of her life are then written to Willow back in China, as the two women struggle equally with failing marriages, shared lovers, and the desire to do what they want, and not what society tells them.

The story begins in Pearl and Willow's childhood home in Chin-Kiang, at the end of the 19th century. Willow Yee, the story's narrator is a young girl being raised by her grandmother and her father, Mr. Yee, a coolie and farmhand who lives in poverty despite his good education and his aspirations to become a literary star. Pearl, meanwhile, is the daughter of Christian missionary Absalom Sydenstricker, a devout Catholic who hopes to convert as many locals as possible to his new religion. Absalom and Mr. Yee become colleagues when Absalom begins rewarding Mr. Yee for bringing him local converts, and soon Pearl and Willow also become friends. They laugh at their fathers, who are strange and selfish men.

The beginning of the novel is a relatively simple story of childhood friendship. Willow and Pearl are fascinated with each other—they are so different in appearance, in cultural background, but so similar in their hearts. They share some moments of childhood drama, which only solidifies their friendship further. It is, for the most part, a peaceful girlhood.



Problems arise, however, at the end of the century with the Boxer Rebellion, a moment of high tension and violence between Christian missionaries, converts, and native Chinese. Pearl is soon whisked away to a missionary boarding school in Shanghai, for her safety. From there, her friendship with Willow continues primarily through letters and brief moments of reunification.

Willow's story becomes quite painful, as time goes on. She talks to Pearl about her two failed marriages—she is first forced into marriage with an opium-addict at a young age but manages to escape his abuse and find her own way in Nanking. In the city, she works as a newspaper editor and finds another marriage with a member of the Communist Party. Her marriage leads to eventual imprisonment and denunciation, and she returns to Chin-Kiang, where she meets President Nixon on a visit to Pearl's childhood home.

Meanwhile, Pearl is living a much less painful, though limited life. She is sent off to college in America, which she detests, and she yearns to come back to China as soon as she is able. She marries Lossing Buck, who wants to go to China to reform the farming system. At first, their marriage is an amicable one, but it soon becomes strained and is essentially dead once their first child is born. Pearl's daughter has severe cognitive disabilities, further straining the marriage. Eventually, Pearl begins writing novels and has a love affair with poet Hsu Chih-mo, only returning to America in her middle age. After that time, she sees Willow only occasionally, and the novel comes to a slow close.



Anchee Min is a Chinese American author of memoirs and novels. Splitting her time between San Francisco and Shanghai, Min writes primarily historical fiction, focusing on strong female characters in Chinese history, including Jiang Qing, the wife of Chairman Mao, and the last ruling empress of China, Empress Cixi. She has also written two memoirs: Red Azalea and The Cooked Seed. Pearl of China, her most recent work, was published in 2010.