China Rich Girlfriend (Kwan)

China Rich Girlfriend (Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy 2)
Kevin Kwan, 2015
Knopf Doubleday
496 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780804172066


Summary
t’s the eve of Rachel Chu’s wedding, and she should be over the moon.

She has a flawless Asscher-cut diamond, a wedding dress she loves, and a fiancé willing to thwart his meddling relatives and give up one of the biggest fortunes in Asia in order to marry her.

Still, Rachel mourns the fact that her birthfather, a man she never knew, won’t be there to walk her down the aisle. 

Then a chance accident reveals his identity.

Suddenly, Rachel is drawn into a dizzying world of Shanghai splendor, a world where people attend church in a penthouse, where exotic cars race down the boulevard, and where people aren’t just crazy rich … they’re China rich. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1973-74
• Where—Singapore
• Raised—Clear Lake, Texas, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Houston-Clear Lake; B.F.A., Parsons School of Design
• Currently—lives in New York, New York


Kevin Kwan is a Singaporean-American novelist best known for his satirical Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy (2013-17). He was born in Singapore, the youngest of three boys, into an established, old-wealth Chinese family.

Background and early years
His great-grandfather, Oh Sian Guan, was a founding director of Singapore's oldest bank, the Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation. His paternal grandfather, Dr. Arthur Kwan Pah Chien, was an ophthalmologist who became Singapore's first Western-trained specialist and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his philanthropic efforts. His maternal grandfather, Rev. Paul Hang Sing Hon, founded the Hinghwa Methodist Church. Kwan is also related to Hong Kong-born American actress Nancy Kwan.

As a young boy, Kwan lived in Singapore with his paternal grandparents and attended the Anglo-Chinese School. When he was 11, his father, an engineer, and mother, a pianist, moved the family to the U.S., eventually landing in Clear Lake, Texas, where Kwan graduated from high school at the age of 16. Kwan earned a B.A. in Media Studies from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, after which he moved to Manhattan to attend Parsons School of Design to pursue a B.F.A. in Photography.

Career
Staying in New York, Kwan worked for Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, and Tibor Kalman's design firm M & Co. In 2000, Kwan established his own creative studio; his clients have included Ted.com, Museum of Modern Art, and the New York Times.

In 2007, Kwan edited I Was Cuba, a photographic "memoir" of Cuba; in 2008 he co-authored with Deborah Aaronson an advice book, Luck: The Essential Guide.

Then, in 2009, while caring for his dying father, Kwan began to conceive of Crazy Rich Asians. He and his father reminisced about their life in Singapore while driving to and from medical appointments. Hoping to capture those memories, Kwan began writing them down in story form.

Living in the U.S. since 1985, Kwan's view of Asia had become westernized—he has said he feels like "an outsider looking in." His goal was to change the stereotypical perception of wealthy Asians' conspicuous consumption, refocusing instead on old-wealth families more like his own, families that exude "style and taste [and] have been quietly going about their lives for generations."

Four years later, in 2013, Kwan published Crazy Rich Asians, the first volume of what would become his trilogy. Two years later, in 2015, he released China Rich Girlfriend and, in 2017, Rich People's Problems. In 2018 the first book of the trilogy was released as a film and became an immediate box office hit.

In August 2018, Amazon Studios ordered a new drama series from Kwan and STX Entertainment. The as yet unnamed series is to be set in Hong Kong and will follow the "most influential and powerful family" along with their business empire.

Recognition
In 2014, Kwan was named as one of the "Five Writers to Watch" on the list of Hollywood's Most Powerful Authors published by The Hollywood Reporter. In 2018, he made Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people; that same year he was also inducted into The Asian Hall of Fame. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 10/18/2018.)

Book Reviews
Kevin Kwan’s brand of giddy wealth porn arrived in 2013 with Crazy Rich Asians, not a moment too soon.… China Rich Girlfriend [is] the second volume in what has been projected as a gossipy, good-humored trilogy that will follow the richest old families of Singapore, Hong Kong and a few from mainland China. They join in a single shared pursuit: watching in horror as their youngest generations squander money in ways so staggering that Western show-offs look like pikers by comparison.… Mr. Kwan has good aim with his fashion world- and ego-skewering shivs. And regardless of how reality-based these characters may be, he has his style references down cold.… [Keeps] readers surprised and inquisitive.… Snarky.… Wicked.… Funny.
Janet Maslin - New York Times


In this year's best beach reading, Jane Austen meets Singapore.… There's no timely cocktail I'd rather recommend than China Rich Girlfriend.… As frothy as the egg whites on the sort of cocktail you should drink while reading Kwan's books. But if you need to assuage your guilt about summer reading with a little intellectual patina, Kwan has you covered too; his peek into this rarified world is spiked with tart observations about old and new money, the nuances of racism and the way they all interact.… Fizzy, highly entertaining.
Washington Post


As the real China rich dig their nails into the world of the wealthy and wasteful, Kwan sharpens his with another acerbic yet affectionate examination of Asian uber-elite social mores, still largely invisible in Western popular culture.… The novel is filled with jaw-dropping accounts of opulence… and showdowns worthy of an episode of "Gossip Girl."… China Rich Girlfriend is a crazy parade through the lives of the aspirational elite. It's also a rich portrait of Asia's real obsession with consumerism and its economic rise, one whose trajectory, like Kwan's, is not yet complete.
Nicole Lee - Los Angeles Times


What happens when the young woman destined to marry Asia’s most eligible bachelor gets derailed by a shocking family secret? That’s what Kwan examines in this amusing, whirlwind novel about Rachel Chu, who discovers her long-lost father and falls headlong into a Shanghai—the fashion! the social climbing! the secrets!—wilder than her wildest dreams.
Miami Herald


Take a Jane Austen novel, combine it with Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and set it in the glittering capitals of Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore. What have you got? This deliciously fun follow-up to Kwan's bestselling Crazy Rich Asians… a field guide to Asia's uberwealthy echelon and comic satire at its best.
People Magazine


The summer's funniest beach read. When Crazy Rich Asians hit shelves in peak beach-read season two summers ago, readers ate up its urestrained and uproarious fictional depictions of the opulent lives of Asia's super elite.… China Rich Girlfriend follow[s] the same multitentacled clan and their world-traveling, high-spending, and backstabbing antics.
Lauren Christensen - Vanity Fair


Welcome to the world of China Rich Girlfriend, which picks up a few years after the events of Kevin Kwan's frothy 2013 best-seller, Crazy Rich Asians. In accordance with the Law of Sequels, it's more over-the-top than its predecessor—which is saying something.… [E]ntertaining.… [B]uoyant.
Entertainment Weekly


The novel offers a second helping of the social-climbing, jet-setting, wildly scandalous world that propelled Kwan's first book to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. With one exception—somehow it manages to outstrip the earlier work's excesses.
Women's Wear Daily


The much-anticipated sequel to Crazy Rich Asians (a great summer read in its own right), China Rich Girlfriend continues the tale of Rachel Chu and her upcoming nuptials to Nicholas Young, heir to one of the greatest fortunes in Asia.… With the same hilarity and scandalous narrative as the first novel, China Rich Girlfriend will not disappoint both fans and newcomers to the series.
Town & Country


(Starred review) Kwan’s latest follows in the footsteps of his wildly imaginative Crazy Rich Asians.… Those who enjoy splendid writing and getting a glimpse at how the other half… lives will delight in this book.
Library Journal


Lovers of clothes, cuisine, and cars will find themselves at home in Kwan’s second smart and snarky send-up of the Chinese jet set. —Kristine Huntley
Booklist


Kwan returns with an equally good-natured, catty-as-hell sequel to his bestselling roman a clef about China's new and old money dynasties. For those not cued in, Kwan's tone is breakneck and utterly disarming—part Oscar Wilde…. Hilarious…. Over-the-top and hard to stop.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for CHINA RICH GIRLFRIEND … then take off on your own:

1. Consider the book's title: what does "China rich" mean? How is it different (or is it...?) from "Singapore rich" where Crazy Rich Asians (CRA) takes place?

2. Like the previous book, China Rich Girlfriend is filled with jaw-dropping opulence. Which incident, or which character, dropped your jaw more than others?

3. In what way do Rachel and Nick serve as (somewhat) objective observers into this world of crazy conspicuous consumption? To what degree are their values different from the characters who live in Asia? Do they exude a sense of superiority over the others?

4. Poor Rachel has her trouble with secondary mothers: Eleanor, her future mother-in-law, and Shaoyen, her step-mother. Both make life difficult for Rachel. How do their attitudes change and are those changes genuine?

5. Talk about the ins & outs of Rachel's relationship with her half-brother Carlton.

6. What do you make of Kitty Pong, her social climbing and attempts to fit in with the Straits Chinese? Is she a sympathetic character?

7. How have events transformed Astrid's husband, Michael? Is he due a "comeuppance?"

8. Overall, what do you think of these characters? Is Kevin Kwan presenting them critically, satirically, lovingly, humorously? All or none of those?

9. Is there a take-away from this novel and, if you've read CRA, from that novel as well? If so, what? Or are these books simply one of those guilty pleasures that one loves to indulge in?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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