The Good Earth

by

Pearl Buck

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Good Earth makes teaching easy.
Liu owns the grain market where Wang Lung sells his harvests. He goes to the tea shop where Lotus is a prostitute and treats the women very fairly. Thus, when Lotus hears that Wang Lung wants to find a wife for his eldest son, she suggests Liu’s daughter. Wang Lung finds Liu to be a respectable businessman, and they get along well. Liu’s son also becomes engaged to Wang Lung’s second daughter, who later goes to live in Liu’s house to escape the lusts of Wang Lung’s uncle’s son.
Get the entire The Good Earth LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Good Earth PDF

Liu Character Timeline in The Good Earth

The timeline below shows where the character Liu appears in The Good Earth. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 23
Rich vs. Poor Theme Icon
Social Status Theme Icon
...calls Cuckoo in to ask what the man’s profession was, and Cuckoo identifies him as Liu, a grain dealer. When she tells Wang Lung where Liu’s market is, he realizes he... (full context)
Family Theme Icon
Social Status Theme Icon
The very same day, Wang Lung tells Cuckoo to go to Liu and arrange his son’s marriage. He watches over his sleeping son, thinking with disgust of... (full context)
Family Theme Icon
Connection to the Earth Theme Icon
Liu agrees to the marriage of his daughter to Wang Lung’s eldest son, but wants to... (full context)
Chapter 25
Family Theme Icon
...of use to his father. He has Cuckoo set up a meeting for him with Liu, the grain merchant. (full context)
Rich vs. Poor Theme Icon
Social Status Theme Icon
Wang Lung goes that very day to visit Liu. He has to ask a passerby to identify Liu’s house, since he can’t read the... (full context)
Family Theme Icon
Social Status Theme Icon
Liu enters the room and they secretly examine each other and like what they see. They... (full context)
Chapter 26
Social Status Theme Icon
...engaged to their eldest son so that she can make the food for the festival. Liu agrees to let his daughter go since O-lan is dying, and she arrives at the... (full context)
Chapter 27
Family Theme Icon
The Oppression of Women Theme Icon
...second daughter to the house of her betrothed. The next day Wang Lung goes to Liu’s house to propose that the marriage happen soon, but Liu doesn’t have the money for... (full context)
Chapter 34
Family Theme Icon
...and examines them when they gather around him, seeing likenesses of himself, his father, and Liu. He asks them what they study in school and finds that it has changed since... (full context)