When people hear the name "Pearl S. Buck, " they are first reminded of her famous novel, The Good Earth. Also, many people recognize her as being the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. But not many people know that she wrote another masterpiece, The Living Reed, a novel set in Korea¡¯s Joseon Dynasty and that she did humanitarian work in Korea for about ten years.

During the early 1960s, Pearl S. Buck visited Korea to do some writing. While writing The Living Reed, she established the Orphanage and Opportunity Center in Bucheon City (formerly Sosa) to serve Amerasian Children in 1965 . Pearl S. Buck showed her endearing love for these children by feeding, washing and dressing them herself. She spent her life caring for children and subsequently founded a child sponsorship organization, Pearl S. Buck International, in the U.S.

Pearl S. Buck adopted 7 children and had one birth child. She endeavored greatly to raise the awareness of children in Korea who are ethnically mixed and undergo hardships because of the circumstances of their birth and their lives. Throughout her lifetime, she dedicated her energy and resources in order to combat the injustice of social discrimination and prejudice suffered by mixed-race children.

When she left Korea, she was in tears saying, ¡°I am going to miss those children in Korea.¡± She has left Korea with a great many contributions as a mother of multi-ethnic children who, from 30 years back, respected and promoted cross-cultural interchange.