The Chinese revolution changed the course of Chinese civilization away from the path it was moving on and closer toward the path to Chinese civilization today. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck shows us a glimpse into Pre-Revolutionary China's history, the important elements of its history and how each of the elements interacted with each other. By following the life of Wang Lung, the poor Chinese farmer, we can see the political, economic, religious, social, intellectual, artistic, and geographical elements of Pre-Revolutionary China.
Although many civilization's legacies are carved deep within the government and politics, China was more decentralized and the government was much less a part of daily life. When there was a drought in Wang Lung's home town and all the food died and there was nothing to eat, the national government didn't send any help or food, the town's citizens helped each other survive. There were a few laws that would help govern the people, doctors could not charge a patient without guaranteeing his well-being as in the coming of the death of O-Lan. If he was to try to help her, he wanted more pay to balance the risk he would be taking.
China had an interesting economy, in some areas, the economy was local but in others it was national. In the small villages the people were either self sufficient by growing their own food or selling their produce. In Wang Lung's village there was one rich family in the great house who made the rules. This was because they were so wealthy. The wealthiest family in the local villages often controlled the economy of that village because they grew the most food or produced the most products to be sold within the village. It was uncommon for the products to be sold elsewhere. The urbanized center of commerce that Wang Lung moved to during the famine in his town however was more international; they were doing real business and making money. They had poor people and beggars living on the streets and rich people too doing business and making even more money. Their economy in the big cities was much like our modern economy in the United States.
Religion was a great part of daily Chinese life as portrayed in The Good Earth; the people actively participated in their religion everyday. The main religion portrayed in this book was Confucianism but Buddhism was also present in the form of the little Buddha which was to be put on Wang Lung's first born son's head. There were statues of the gods that they worshipped for rain and to save them from famine and for good luck and sons. They believed the gods had complete control over all of these things and that famine, lack of rain or birth of daughters were signs that the gods were angry with the people. This is also evidence of a somewhat indigenous polytheistic belief.
There is also a reference to Confucianism when Wang Lung is instructed to bring a man to the Confucian Temple for pay. Confucianism is also evident in Wang Lung's following concepts of filial piety, a Confucian teaching. Even though Wang Lung hated his uncle's arrogance in asking for money which he knew that his uncle would simply spend on gambling, he was required to respect him and his uncle knew that. When Wang Lung was ready to stop funding his uncle's well-being, his uncle threatened to tell the entire village that Wang Lung didn't care for him and made up lies jeopardizing Wang Lung's integrity and reputation. The concept of religion held together the people of China.
In Pre-Revolutionary China there was a very strict social structure. The concept that men are superior to women was evident in all classes and taken advantage of. This is clear in that women prayed for their baby to be a son. Having sons was used as bargaining and O-Lan beseeched Wang Lung not to take another wife because she had already gave birth to sons. When in famine, families often killed a newborn girl if they could not support her and often ate the dead child. The slaves were almost all female and often the young lords of the house would have sex with them. The women were submissive and even the wives of wealthy men were treated as faithful servants who would work for their husband as society often told them to do. Within a village, there was often one wealthy family who controlled most of the economy. In the beginning, this was the House of Hwang but soon that house became poor and no longer the great house but would be replaced by Wang Lung's house. He became the village leader because of his wealth. China's social structure was well known and followed by everyone.
Most of the intellectual achievements in China before the Chinese Revolution were toward agriculture and farming so the people could survive. Wang Lung used many inventions in agriculture during that time such as the ox drawn plow. He used other intellectual achievements such as the train and pulled people in the rickshaw for transportation. In the part of China where he first lived, there were few inventions put to use unlike the industrious southern towns where he moved during the famine. The few achievements that they had were for survival.
There were very few artistic achievements described in
The Good Earth
because the people where Wang Lung lived had little time to worry about art. There were a few examples of art however in his town. Like most religions, there are statues to God or the gods; Wang Lung's is no exception. It is often described that the people of his old village went to the statues of the gods and burned incense in times of hardship. Also art is shown in the pictures of the women at the tea house. Although not as big an aspect of Chinese life, it is still easy to identify as an important component to development.
Chinese geography was easy to identify as a solid element in Chinese life. In China there was good fertile farm land shown in the book as part of Wang Lung's daily life. The land paid for his meals, it gave him food, it was an investment and it was his life blood and he felt a part of it. At the end of the book, although many of his values as a poor man changed, he still very much valued his land and when his sons were talking of selling the land, Wang Lung said “If you sell the land, it is the end.”(360) A symbiotic relationship between man and the land he lived on was felt by all Chinese farmers like Wang Lung during that time.
The glimpse into Pre-Revolutionary China by an author who experienced life there and wrote about it in The Good Earth was very valuable to global history. It described life during a period of change from past to present for Chinese citizens. China was judged based on each of its characteristics in the 7 categories during that time and it was prosperous.
