Anchee Min: Pearl of China

“Go ahead!” Papa said. “Don’t forget to mention that Vanguard supported us and that is why he was here with us. He was so excited to listen to Voice of America and Pearl Buck that he got drunk to celebrate. Everyone in this building saw him do it.”

Although Vanguard confiscated Papa’s radio, he lost his position. He was replaced by Carpenter Chan, who was appointed the new Communist Party secretary of Chin-kiang. Carpenter Chan didn’t want the job, but Papa convinced him to accept the position. Papa believed that God’s work needed information and intelligence. “I’d appreciate it if you could get me the monthly Communist Party newsletter, the Internal Reference.”

Papa’s wisdom paid off. The Internal Reference forecast the changes in China’s political weather. Papa devoured every issue. He analyzed and looked for traces of change, especially in Mao’s attitude toward the United States.

In July 1971, Papa noticed a stamp-sized announcement that Mao was to receive a special guest from America, a man named Henry Kissinger.

“Mao’s pot is cooking!” Papa said to Carpenter Chan.

Three months later Papa learned that China had been accepted as a member of the United Nations.

“A deal is in the works,” Papa predicted.

Papa and Chan became the first in town to figure out that America’s President Nixon was about to visit China. Through the Internal Reference, Papa and Carpenter Chan also learned that there were two powerful factions within China’s Communist Party. One was called the Wife Party, Madame Mao’s faction, which Mao trusted to carry on his Cultural Revolution. The other was the Premier Party, led by Premier Chou En-lai, which Mao trusted to manage the country. Both factions competed for Mao’s favor.

The battle between the two intensified when Nixon’s visit was announced publicly. A group of investigators came to Chin-kiang. We had no idea that it had to do with the fact that Nixon had selected Pearl Buck to accompany him to China. It was only later that we learned the momentous news.

By candlelight Papa conducted discussions with his guerrilla-church members. “The world’s attention will be focused on Nixon when he comes,” Papa said, his eyes glowing and every wrinkle dancing. “Imagine, our Pearl introducing Nixon to Mao in perfect Mandarin and Mao to Nixon in American English!”

The question seemed to be: Would Madame Mao let it happen? Would she stand for another woman taking over the role she believed she was entitled to?

“Hundreds of cameras will be clicking and flashing,” Papa continued.

“Madame Mao will be jealous of Pearl standing between Mao and Nixon.”

“There is another possibility,” Carpenter Chan said. “Mao might show interest in Pearl, like he did with the wife of Philippine president Marcos. I saw the documentary in which Mao kissed the lady’s hand.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if Mao was charmed by the blue-eyed Pearl. I imagined Pearl dressed up. She would look like Carie, beautiful and elegant. Mao would ask questions in his native Hunanese, and Pearl would answer in the same tune. As far as I knew, Pearl was fluent in many Chinese dialects besides Mandarin. It would only be natural for Mao to extend an invitation to Pearl to visit him in private, as he had with so many famous Chinese actresses, poets, and novelists.

“Perhaps Mao will offer Pearl a personal tour of the Forbidden City,”

Papa imagined. “I can see the two strolling together down the Imperial Long Corridor, where the Last Empress, Tsu Hsi, walked every day after dinner. Mao would share his knowledge of Chinese history.”

“Mao might suggest visiting the Great Wall,” Carpenter Chan added. “He and Pearl would be carried by the palanquin bearers.”

Lilac nodded. “Certainly Mao would propose dinner at the Imperial Summer Palace.”

“Yes,” Papa agreed. “The dishes would be given names after Mao’s poems. Crabs with ginger and wine would be called Taking Down the Capital Nanking. Roasted duck with wheat pancakes would be called Autumn Uprising Triumph.”

“Hot red pepper with fried frog legs would be called The Birth of the People’s Republic.” Bumpkin Emperor and his sworn brothers drooled.

The pictures continued to scroll through my mind. Pearl might win Mao’s heart if she presented to him her translation of All Men Are Brothers, a favorite of Mao’s. He would assume that Pearl shared his passion for the peasant heroes.

I could hear Mao call Pearl “My comrade!” Mao would forget his age, his toothaches, his sore eyes and stiff joints. He would take Pearl’s hand and tell her that it was All Men Are Brothers that had inspired him to become a revolutionary. To earn her affection, he would want Pearl to know how he became the modern emperor of China. He would expect her to share the story with Nixon.

“People, only the people, are the creators of history.” Carpenter Chan mimicked Mao’s famous quotation. “Pearl would be flattered.”

“I don’t think so,” Lilac disagreed. “Pearl wouldn’t like Mao at all.”

“Pearl is lucky that Mao still hasn’t read The Good Earth,” I said. “If he had, he would know that Pearl will never be his comrade. Nothing Mao says or does will change Pearl’s view. And I believe that Pearl would disappoint Mao as well. Mao would discover that although Pearl spoke his language and knew his culture, she could never worship him like the rest of China. Pearl would see his flaws. She could be Mao’s nightmare.”

“We’ll see,” Papa said. “Wine might bring alive the poet in Mao. He could pick up a brush pen and write Pearl a calligraphy couplet as a gift. Pearl might demonstrate her appreciation by recognizing the rhythm in which Mao composed, and she would sound out the phrases in ancient Chinese.”

“Mao would ask Pearl to stay for late-night tea,” said Bumpkin Emperor, nodding.

“Pearl would refuse,” Rouge said. “And she would say, ‘President Nixon is waiting for me.’”

“The rejection would be worse than Nixon dropping a nuclear bomb on China,” everyone agreed.

The town of Chin-kiang was to be given a task of national importance. As the party boss, Carpenter Chan started to receive messages from his superiors. The first was from Premier Chou En-lai, instructing him to prepare for Pearl Buck’s homecoming.

“Get ready to show the town to America’s President Nixon,” the message read.

The second message contradicted the first. It ordered the town to cooperate with Madame Mao’s investigators. “It is time to reveal Pearl Buck and her parents’ crimes against China and the Chinese people,” that message read.

Believing that it would be an opportunity to get back on top, Vanguard exposed the underground Christian church. “Absalom’s ghost is not only alive but active in turning people against Mao and Communism,” he claimed.

The Communist newspaper, the People’s Daily, published an article titled “The Nobel Prize Winner Makes Her Living Insulting China.” Carpenter Chan told us that Madame Mao had barred Chin-kiang from receiving the American guests.

Secretly, Carpenter Chan took back the confiscated radio. He and Papa tuned in to Voice of America for the latest news. Between the lines, they learned that Nixon’s delegation would depart from the United States for China in a week, and that the Chinese authorities had refused Pearl Buck entrance.

Carpenter Chan composed a petition signed by everyone in town and sent it to Premier Chou En-lai.

“Pearl Buck grew up in Chin-kiang,” the petition pleaded. “It is her right to visit her mother’s grave and our duty as her neighbors and friends to see her wish granted.”

Never before had the entire town been united in one common goal. It was not Pearl Buck’s visit that we were fighting for, but our own lives and our children’s future. Since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, those whose paths had crossed Absalom’s and Carie’s had been denounced and made to suffer. The major events had happened years ago, but our memories were still fresh. Some people had been affected more directly than others, but all had stories to tell. I remembered that the teenage mob that called itself Mao’s Red Guard had even come to Beijing to “clear Pearl Buck’s evil influence.” They knew that I had delivered letters to Pearl from Hsu Chih-mo. They took me out of the prison to attend a public rally, where the teens hung a wooden board around my neck that read, pimp. The crowd demanded that I confess Hsu Chih-mo and Pearl Buck’s relationship. Pearl’s former students were terrorized. They were forced to inform on me. One pointed out to the crowd that I was Pearl’s best friend and Carie’s adopted daughter. Other students recalled that I was the one who had tried to steal Hsu Chih-mo from Pearl Buck.