Published in 2015, this is the second in Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asian trilogy.

I have to confess I didn't read the first book (Crazy Rich Asians). But back in 2018 I did watch the movie.

Many of the characters from that first volume reappear in the second, but it wasn't hard to do a bit of a catch-up. (See here, for example, for a complete rundown of the differences between the book and the movie; and this article not only includes some wonderful old photos of Kwan's Singaporean ancestors, but also backgrounds his rationale for undertaking the series: "No one else was writing social satires about the upper class of contemporary Asia...". The enviably named Woffles Wu, meanwhile, testifies here to that first book's overall accuracy: "Although some scenes may appear exaggerated to outsiders, I can safely vouch that they are all real and do exist.")


The Fountain of Wealth, Singapore, 2010

This is a book that makes for a really great listen (although auditors apparently miss out on the more visual caricatures, such as the society columns that are reproduced complete with misspellings). My version was very well read by Singaporean actress Lydia Look, who even managed to include the (often witty) footnotes in a non-intrusive fashion.

So, once again, we're in the realm of the very, very rich...

At the centre of the story, as in the first book, are Nick and Rachel, their huge tribe of friends and relations, and the antipathy that their relationship has attracted among those family members who don't think that American-educated university professor Rachel is remotely good enough for the scion of a wealthy Singapore family. The central couple's role is to "remain the clear-eyed observers through which the reader experiences the preposterousness around them".

In addition, plot developments include the discovery of Rachel's previously unknown father and half-brother, along with the rest of their extraordinary mainland Chinese family and connections; the story of Astrid's increasingly stormy marriage; and the trials of former soap-opera star Kitty Pong, who, despite phenomenal riches, is struggling to get herself accepted among the Hong Kong upper classes.

We follow the protagonists across a range of locations -- LA, Singapore, Hong Kong, Paris, and Shanghai, inter alia (seriously, the carbon footprint of these folks...) -- and Kwan is not afraid to introduce plenty of pure farce (Nick's mother's helicopter arrival at the wedding rehearsal, for example, or the Caviar Incident at Edison Chen's Hong Kong mansion).


Alexandra Park, Singapore, 2017



The whole thing is outrageously OTT, sending up the bizarre habits of the Chinese super-rich (both mainland and diaspora) at every cut and turn. It's the contrasts that are the funniest. The old ladies who pay fortunes for jewellery, and yet are REALLY mean when it comes to trivialities; the snooty folks who nonetheless know and employ a fine range of Hakka or Hokkien swear words; the smart church-goers who are infinitely more concerned with earthly status than with religious piety. And so on.

The "education" of Kitty Pong provides a rich strand of humour, not to mention an incisive introduction to the insane snobbery that governs these people's lives (example: "Your chief handicap to social success will always be that you did not attend the right kindergarten with any of the right crowd. This eliminates you from participating in seventy percent of the conversations that occur during dinner parties at the best houses..."). Also exuberantly amusing (until the rather brutal end, that is) are the antics and world-view of Colette, a rich-and-famous PRC influencer ("Sorry to keep everyone from eating -- I just have to throw my fans a bone every hour! ... Just tweet the one of the black truffle dumplings").

Along the way, there are plenty more wry observations about the gulf between old and new rich, and between PRC-rich and everyone else.

This latter point is an important part of Kwan's inspiration: "I was looking for something that would describe the kind of rich that only exists in Mainland China: This instant, overnight, gargantuan fortune of the sort that could only have been made in China." His research trips to Shanghai, he says, turned up "jaw-dropping" extravagance -- so much so that he kept meeting with incredulous responses from his publisher: "'I’ve always felt that truth is stranger than fiction when it comes to details,' he says. 'My editor in New York can’t even conceive of this level of ostentation and spending. There were several scenes where she was like, "Come on, no one’s going to believe this".'... In response to his editor’s concerns, he would send links to local newspaper articles to prove 'you can’t make this stuff up'."

If true, this is classic nouveau-riche deportment, of course. Over time, rich people tend to become more discreet. As Kwan himself explains, "If I were to generalize a bit, I would say that the ultra rich in Asia live on a scale that far surpasses the wealthy in the U.S. or Europe. The trend these days amongst the high net worth crowd in the West tends to be more outwardly democratic -- people with money want to present themselves as living normal lives 'just like everyone else.'... I know of some extremely well-heeled Americans ... who tell me that when they visit Asia, they are absolutely blown away by how their wealthy counterparts live -- the palatial estates, the armies of servants catering to their every whim, the grand scale of how they entertain, the extreme luxury and how they surround themselves with the very best of everything."





As a piece of satire, China Rich Girlfriend is very funny. But it's also pretty scary in places (if you're rich, justice can be evaded, and troublesome records can be wiped off the face of the planet).

And it's definitely a book with a moral message (albeit one that's very light-heartedly delivered). I defy anyone with even half a brain to come away thinking: "Wow, I would love to be them..."

Rather, it's a book that rams home the old adage that money really can't make you happy... No amount of riches can stop you being a hypochondriac, or fix your marriage, or make you a sensible parent.

And riches come shackled with so many rules and expectations, it seems. What to wear, what to collect, who to marry, where to live, where to be seen...

Aiyah (as the older ladies often exclaim to indicate dismay or exasperation), it sounds like prison...