China Rich Girlfriend By Kevin Kwan

I have just finished reading China Rich Girlfriend, the 2015 sequel to Kevin Kwan’s highly successful 2013 Crazy Rich Asians. I was so engrossed by the crazy parade through the lives of Asia’s richest elite that I was able to finish the 479-page novel within one day.

Crazy Rich Asians introduced readers to the world of old Asian money and the mindless consumerism of the snobs of the moneyed East. It was also a celebration of Asia’s material success and its throbbing, growing power.

China Rich Girlfriend is a rich portrait of Asia’s real obsession with consumerism and its economic rise. It is filled with jaw-dropping accounts of opulence and the lengths the China Rich go to flaunt their wealth. Kwan has shrewdly shifted the focus from Singapore to Shanghai, Hong Kong and even Silicon Valley.

China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan

Like “Crazy Rich Asians,” this sequel follows Nick Young and Rachel Chu as they navigate the world of Nick’s wealthy and demanding family. Add to this colourful crew new characters who represent China’s nouveau super-rich, most notably Colette Bing, the daughter of China’s third richest man, and Carlton Bao, a Shanghai princeling who bears an uncanny resemblance to Rachel.

China Rich Girlfriend is an engaging parody. One of the most hysterical chapters features Corinna Ko-tung, an old-money Hongkonger who advises Kitty Pong ( a character from Crazy Rich Asians) on how to overhaul her public profile and rewrite her less-than-illustrious past through a social impact assessment that covers appearance, wardrobe, jewelry, lifestyle, transport, dining, social life, travel, philanthropic affiliations, spiritual life, culture & conversation and reading list. Just take a peep at Corinna’s advice to Kitty in regards to her spiritual life: When I feel you are ready, I will introduce you to Hong Kong’s most exclusive church, which you are to begin attending on a regular basis. Before you protest, please note that this is one of the cornerstones to my methodology of social rehabilitation. Your true spiritual affiliations do not concern me – it does not matter to me if you are Taosit, Daoist, Buddhist, or worship Meryl Streep – but it is absolutely essential that you become a regular praying, tithing, communion-taking, hands-in-the-air waving, Bible-study-fellowship-attending member of this church. (This has the added bonus of ensuring that you will be qualified for burial at the most coveted Christian cemetery on Hong Kong Island, rather than having to suffer the eternal humiliation of being interred at one of those lesser cemeteries on the Kowloon side.)

China Rich Girlfriend does not disappoint. Go grab a copy!