Whoa, that brings back a memory. Early 60s, I was in fourth or fifth grade, and the school brought in the Technology Breakthrough Of The Day, a (drum roll..........) SPEAKERPHONE, so we could all have a conversation in the gym/auditorium with Pearl S. Buck. My mother, whose dream from her childhood was to see China, wanted to hear all about it when I got home. Little did we know that just three years later we would be moving to Japan and got to see Yokohama's Chinatown, which was essentially a Maoist enclave at the time, and as close as one could get to China in those days. (The last time I was there was in Nov 2006, and it was very different from what it had been in the late 60s.)
Wow! What a cool memory my post brought up. About 15 years ago, the actress Valerie Harper had a one-woman show about Pearl Buck. I don’t remember any of the details, sadly, which kind of figures in to my interest in her books, lol!