Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
Pearl S. Buck Birthplace docent Phyllis Lubin-Tyler welcomed a very special group of guests to the birthplace Sunday. Included among the group was Dr. Lu Zhangping, president of the Zhenjiang Pearl S. Buck Research Association.
Zhangping traveled from China to attend the Pearl S. Buck International Conference in Pennsylvania, taking place this week, and made a special trip from Washington, D.C. to Hillsboro to meet Lubin-Tyler and see the birthplace.
Zhangping has spent years researching and writing about Pearl S. Buck, publishing four books and nine research papers about the Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winning author who was born in Hillsboro and spent most of her life in China.
Lubin-Tyler traveled to China in 2017 to attend the grand opening of the Zhenjiang Pearl S. Buck Research Association and has maintained a relationship with the organization.
“On Mother’s Day a year or so ago, they requested that I collect soil on Mother’s Day from her mother’s house,” Lubin-Tyler recalled. “The coincidence was I was born on Mother’s Day. I did collect it on that day for them, and I put a nice note and a label on an antique blue Mason jar that I had.
“They thought it was touching that I took the time to do that and gift it to them.”
The relationship between them has grown to include exchanging gifts ever since. Zhangping and the people at the research association now refer to Lubin-Tyler as “beloved sister.”
During his visit, Zhangping presented several gifts to Lubin-Tyler, including a string of pearls, silks, moon cakes and a jade stamp or chop that was carved specifically for her with her Chinese name.
Lubin-Tyler led Zhangping and the group on a private tour of the birthplace before they returned to Washington, D.C. that evening.
