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Pearl of China
by Anchee Min
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In the late Qing town of Chin-kiang, impoverished Willow Yee befriends Pearl, the American daughter of Christian missionaries who feels more at home in China than in her parents’ country. Their childhood bond survives religious conflict, the Boxer Rebellion and the social divisions that shape their families, while Pearl’s experience of Chinese village life begins to form the imagination of the future novelist Pearl S. Buck.
The women’s paths separate as revolution, war and Communist victory transform China. Pearl becomes an internationally recognised writer in the United States, while Willow remains behind and must decide whether friendship can survive political demands that she condemn Pearl’s work. The fictional relationship provides a personal route through China’s passage from the Qing dynasty to Maoist rule.
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