Cho Yong-eek, Mayor of Bucheon City, and PSBI Interim President & CEO Cheryl Castro hold signed copies of the autobiography of Julie Henning, who was born in Korea and raised as Pearl Buck’s daughter, which PSBI gifted to the mayor and the other Korean guests.
A delegation from Bucheon City, Korea, including Mayor Cho Yong-eek, visited the Pearl S. Buck Estate in Bucks County on July 30. During the visit, the guests met with staff and leadership of Pearl S. Buck International, visited the gravesite of Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning humanitarian, writer, and activist Pearl S. Buck, and received a personal curator-led tour of the Pearl S. Buck House Museum.
Pearl S. Buck, Pearl S. Buck International, and Bucheon City have close, long-standing ties with each other. In March 2018, a delegation from the city visited Pearl S. Buck International to discuss future collaboration and cultural exchange between Bucheon and Pearl S. Buck International.
In October 2019, Pearl S. Buck International hosted an opening reception and celebration for a months-long Bucheon-curated exhibit on site, Pearl S. Buck’s Legacy Lives on in Bucheon, which paid tribute to the rich cultural history of Bucheon City and expressed the positive influence of Pearl S. Buck’s philanthropic spirit on Korean society.
During her lifetime, Pearl S. Buck made important contributions to Bucheon City, which was designated a UNESCO City of Literature in 2017 and today hosts an annual festival in Pearl S. Buck’s honor. After she founded the Pearl S. Buck Foundation (now Pearl S. Buck International) in 1964, the foundation opened the Sosa Opportunity Center in Bucheon, providing humanitarian aid and education to disadvantaged mixed-race children.
The Pearl S. Buck Memorial Hall now stands on its former site. Pearl S. Buck Foundation Korea is one of the many overseas affiliate offices that Pearl S. Buck International works with to this day to continue Pearl Buck’s legacy of humanitarian, cross-cultural, and educational outreach to marginalized populations.
Find out more at: https://pearlsbuck.org/about/where-we-work/