Pearl S. Buck Pearl S. Buck Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973; also known by her Chinese name Sai Zhenzhu; ) was an American writer and novelist. As the daughter of missionaries, Buck spent most of her life before 1934 in Zhenjiang, China. Her novel "The Good Earth" was the best-selling fiction book in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces". She was the first
Sai Jinhua author of an encyclopedia article on Sai Jinhua, wrote that "regardless of whether Sai Jinhua's role in China's foreign relations may have been exaggerated and despite the controversies surrounding her conduct and affairs, she lived a tough and spectacular life that has assured her a place in the modern history of China." Sai Jinhua was allegedly born with the name Zhao Lingfei () on October 9, 1872. Sai Jinhua was from Yancheng, Jiangsu and she lived in Suzhou as a child. Her ancestral home was Xiuning, Anhui. At age 13 she became a prostitute after her father died and financial