Buck was not just a missionary in China. She did other work too. Buck and her family lived in Nanjing from 1920 to 1933. There is a college called Nanjing University in the city. That was where Buck's family lived. Pearl taught English Literature in two different colleges which would later become part of Nanjing University. Those colleges were the University of Nanjing and the National Central University. Buck's mother died in 1921 of a disease called sprue. Pearl went back to America in 1924 and got a Masters Degree from Cornell University in 1924. Pearl's family went back to China in 1925.