Abstract： As a scholarly writer steep in Chinese and western cultures, Pearl S. Buck has a deep understanding of the social roles and function of Chinese traditional novels. She thought that in traditional Chinese society, novels were of no social significance and subject to discrimination and oppression, noncomparable with poetry and essays that had roles of expressing ambition, preaching and aiding governance. Their value varied dramatically with level of society. For the ruling class and the upper society, they served mainly to convey truth, relieve worries and advance proposals. Conveying truth and advancing proposals were out of political needs, so that novels were subservient to the Confucianism, the ruling thought; on the other hand, relieving worries reflected the upper literati and senior officials’ cultural psychological structure of Confucianism mixed with Taoism, with novels mirroring the Taoist spirit of freedom. For the commons, novels were “a mirror of Chinese life”, reflecting the colorful social scene and all walks of life. To them, novels resonated with its strong artistic appeal, helped them find and assert themselves in reading, and thus were of great effect in cognition, entertainment, education, communication, molding, enlightenment and aesthetics.
刘澍芃. 赛珍珠论中国传统小说的社会功能[J]. 江苏大学学报（社会科学版）, 2017, 19(2): 12-17.
LIU Shu-Peng. Pearl S.Bucks View of the Social Functions of Chinese Traditional Novels. Journal of Jiangsu University（Social Science Editi, 2017, 19(2): 12-17.
2017, Vol. 19 
