Pavilion of Women

Pavilion of Women is a historical novel by Nobel Prize-winning American author Pearl S. Buck, first published in 1946 by The John Day Company. Set in China in the years prior to the First World War, it chronicles the emancipation of Madame Wu, the pampered matriarch of a wealthy Chinese family. On her fortieth birthday, Madame Wu announces her intentions to retire from her wifely duties, retreat from the marriage, and find her husband a suitable concubine. In 2001, director Yim Ho and screenwriters Luo Yan and Paul Collins adapted Pavilion of Women into an English-language film, starring actor and writer Luo Yan as Madame Wu and Willem Dafoe as Father Andre.

The novel opens as Madame Wu sits at her vanity studying her calm but aging face. She compares it to the face of the spirited sixteen-year-old she once was. Her maid assures her that she has not changed at all in the last twenty-four years. Madame Wu knows the maid is lying, but she does not respond. Instead, she remembers her birthday twenty-four years ago, when Mr. Wu came into this very bedroom and presented her with a beautiful pair of jade earrings.

Now, she plans to present him with a gift.



After decades of devotion and acquiescence, Madame Wu makes it known that she plans to withdraw from her life as a wife, at least in the physical sense, and will embark upon a search to find the perfect concubine to bring into the household. Many generations of Wus live under her roof, and though they and the servants view Madame Wu's announcement with shock—and some with rancor—they hold back their true feelings and lend her their tacit support.

The only member of the family struggling with Madame Wu's decision is her husband. He does not want a concubine. He adamantly tells her that he still loves her, still finds her sexually desirable, and he encourages her to rethink her plan. But Madame Wu—ever calm and ever in-charge—carries out her plan and sets forth to find a lover for her husband. Ideally, the concubine will be someone Madame Wu can trust just as much as she trusts Mr. Wu; after all, the concubine will move into the Wu home and become another member of the household. Madame Wu wants to feel confident that her husband is taken care of, so she has the time and mental space to devote herself to a life of the mind. She wants to withdraw to her rooms to read books and learn about the world.

A young orphan woman named Ch'iuming is Madame Wu's choice to take her place. She moves Ch'iuming into the household, then confines herself to her rooms. Initially, everything goes according to plan, and Madame Wu feels satisfied that she can fulfill her goals, focus on herself, and not worry about her husband.



Unfortunately, interfering family members and friends upend Madame Wu's satisfaction. Her oldest sons are having problems in their marriages. Her best friend is erratic, veering between extremes of charm and annoyance. Also high on Madame Wu's list of annoyances is the Christian missionary who pays multiple visits to her home; the missionary grows so grating that Madame Wu banishes her from stopping by.

Then Madame Wu sees a purpose for the missionary. She invites her back into the household in the hopes of getting a recommendation for a private tutor. Madame Wu's youngest son needs one-on-one instruction so he can match the intellect of his sophisticated and educated new bride. The missionary suggests Father Andre, a learned but gentle man.

During Father Andre's first meeting with Madame Wu, he charms her with his blazing intelligence, forward-thinking ideas, and deep sensitivity. In a time and place where women seldom receive a formal education, attaining their value based on their abilities to bear children, Madame Wu is an anomaly; she loves to learn, to read, to talk about ideas. Father Andre awakens something deep within Madame Wu, something wholly new and exciting.



In the meantime, her son's lessons go well, and his marriage strengthens. Ch'iuming announces she is pregnant with Mr. Wu's child. However, there is tragedy as well; Madame Wu's mother-in-law dies suddenly, momentarily upsetting the delicate balance within the Wu home.

Madame Wu's youngest son decides to travel to the United States. While he is away, Father Andre stops visiting the Wu home. But his absence does not stop Madame Wu's education. She turns more deeply inwards, ruminating less on basic lessons and more on larger moral and philosophical matters.

Then, further upset strikes when not one but two deaths shake Madame Wu to the core: one of her other sons, as well as Father Andre, both die. Soon, another concubine moves into the household. These profound changes send Madame Wu further within herself, as she tries to make sense of big eternal mysteries like life and death, love and commitment, grief and renewal. She searches for her own understanding of enlightenment, eventually touching upon it. As the novel ends, she realizes the constantly-changing nature of life and the immortality of the human soul.