China Rich Girlfriend

Hong Kong, January 25, 2013. Christie’s auction house asks Oliver T’sien, one of their specialists, to oversee the auction of a classical Chinese artwork, a painting composed of several silk scrolls called The Palace of the Eighteen Perfections. Corinna Ko-Tung meets her clients, Lester and Valerie Liu, at the Mandarin Hotel to discuss how they might acquire the painting. Lester’s family runs a large insurance agency and Valerie is the daughter of an anesthesiologist, and after they met at the University of Sydney, this couple, “with an ever-growing fortune and ever-refining taste, […] was ambitiously striving to make their mark on the power scene in Asia” (27). Corinna comes from an old and established Hong Kong family and provides personal consulting services to the socially aspiring, newly rich on how to gain acceptance among the upper class. She advises the Lius on dress, etiquette, and unspoken social rules.

At the auction, bidding for the painting is fast and furious. Corinna represents the Lius. A woman makes a dramatic entrance with two dogs and is identified as the former actress, Kitty Pong, now the wife of billionaire Bernard Tai. Reports on the auction alternate with scenes from the other bidders, including Araminta Khoo, the hospitality heiress, and Astrid Leong, who is at the supermarket shopping for dinner. Kitty Pong wins the paintings with a bid of $195 million, a new record.

February 9, 2013. Rachel Chu and Nick Young are visiting her family in California for a Chinese New Year celebration. Rachel’s family is very down to earth except for Aunt Belinda, who dresses pretentiously and brags about the expensive places they vacation. Rachel shows off her engagement ring, which is too small to impress Belinda, who judges it by size and doesn’t recognize the ring’s value. Rachel describes the proposal that Nick orchestrated in Paris and discusses how she has been to China searching for her father. Her mother, Kerry, has not been in touch with him since she left China when Rachel was a baby, and Rachel has had no luck locating him.

Singapore, February 9, 2013. Eleanor visits Bao Shaoyen, who has brought her son to Singapore to recuperate and has bought an expensive flat for them. Eleanor is more alarmed than impressed by the car elevator that takes her up to their floor. Carlton is still in a wheelchair but making progress in his recovery, and Eleanor views him as an overindulged only son. Bao Shaoyen gives Eleanor an Hermès handbag to thank her for her help. Eleanor protests at the expensive gift, but Carlton shows her a room in his mother’s suite where the floor is covered with Hermès handbags. The private detective Eleanor hired to investigate the Baos informed her that they are extremely rich. As she leaves, Eleanor hears Mrs. Bao chastising Carlton for telling Eleanor too much about their business.

Astrid sends an email to Charlie Wu, her friend and ex-fiancé, telling him about her work with the Fine Arts Museum, her husband Michael’s acquisition of new tech companies, and their new house, which Michael is filling with antique cars and weapons. Charlie replies with chat about his two daughters. Their emails are nostalgic, affectionate, and friendly, but Astrid feels Charlie is holding something back.

Singapore, Chinese New Year. Lillian May Tan takes her family to visit Shang Su Yi at her estate of Tyersall Park. She warns her family not to mention Nicky, Su Yi’s grandson. Lillian appreciates the elegant beauty of Tyersall Park and the “sense of being in an enchanted time warp” (65). Felicity Leong and Victoria Young, Su Yi’s daughters, gossip about the Tan family as they arrive, including wondering how dark the Indonesian girl that Eric Tan married is. Lillian greets Eleanor and asks if she is going to California soon. Eleanor is confused because she hasn’t spoken to Nick for years. Astrid enters, wearing a delicately understated gown, and Eleanor asks her if Nick and Rachel are getting married in California. Eleanor is upset that her husband, Philip, received an invitation but turned it down because Eleanor was not invited after the way she had treated Rachel on a previous visit. Eleanor bribes Astrid’s son, Cassian, to tell her when the location of the wedding.

New York. Astrid warns Nick via text message that his mother found out about the wedding. Eleanor leaves a series of messages on Nick and Rachel’s answering machine. Rachel asks Nick if he wants to find out what his mother is calling about. They have chosen not to have a traditional, Chinese wedding but a private celebration, with only his cousins Astrid and Alistair attending from Nick’s side.

A couple of weeks later, two tall, blonde bodyguards enter Nick’s classroom at New York University and demand he come with them. They escort him to the cruise terminal, where he is led onto a yacht and received by Jacqueline Ling, a friend of the Young family and Su Yi’s goddaughter. Jacqueline is still beautiful for her age and the mistress of a Norwegian billionaire. She advises Nick not to marry Rachel and risk being cut off by his grandmother, who would otherwise leave him Tyersall Park. Jacqueline, who doesn’t have a fortune of her own, warns Nick that it is difficult to live among the very rich and feel like a hanger-on. Nick says he is happy with his life and his inheritance isn’t worth giving up happiness with Rachel.

Singapore, March 1, 2013. Eleanor and her friend, Carol Tai, attend a tea party hosted by the Singhs. Once an excuse by Mrs. Singh to display her lavish jewelry, the event is now a charity gala run by her daughter-in-law to display works of art. Eleanor and Carol think the art is ugly and miss the jewels. As the friends gossip, Eleanor reveals that she has learned something about the Baos. Mrs. Singh invites the women to her private tea party, where she has some of her jewels on display. Eleanor thinks it feels “like being at a pajama party inside the vault of Harry Winston” (95). As they try on the pieces, Carol bemoans that she is unable to get in touch with her son, Bernard, or her three-year-old granddaughter, while Kitty seems to be everywhere. Carol says that his father locked up Bernard’s trust fund, so they wonder where Kitty is getting all the money she is spending.

Hong Kong, March 7, 2013. A “Social Swells” gossip column by Leonardo Lai reports on a charity event, naming several rich notables, including Michael Teo and his wife “Astor,” whom Lai says was wearing drab earrings. Lai describes how Mrs. Bernard Tai (former soap star Kitty Pong) was so overcome during a speech made by Sir Francis Poon that she rushed onstage announcing she would donate $20 million to his foundation.

Astrid, at the Hong Kong International Airport on her way to California, exchanges text messages with Charlie after they saw each other at the event and Charlie met Michael. Astrid reveals how strict her parents are about her having her name in the press. She laughs at all the ladies trying to outdo each other and is amused that the columnist didn’t recognize the value of Astrid’s earrings, which once belonged to a Russian empress. Astrid and Charlie agree that Kitty stole the spotlight from Sir Francis and they wonder where she has Bernard locked up.

As their exchange ends, Charlie, in his office, reflects that it tortures him to talk to Astrid, but he can’t seem to stop. He is miserable in his marriage, his wife hates him, and Astrid makes him happy. He decides to fly to Los Angeles to meet her.

Hong Kong, March 9, 2013. Kitty Pong is eager to visit the Locke Club, Hong Kong’s most exclusive dining club. She’s been invited as the guest of Evangeline de Ayala, who was impressed by Kitty’s donation to Sir Francis Poon’s foundation. However, Ava Poon, Sir Francis’s wife, is dining at the club and sees Kitty. To her great distress, Evangeline is turned away from the club and her membership is revoked. Corinna Ko-Tung finds Kitty standing in the street and takes her to lunch. She explains that Kitty insulted the Poons by cutting in on Sir Francis’s speech and goes on to explain what it will entail to overhaul Kitty’s image and make her acceptable in Hong Kong’s high society. Corinna tries to explain the intricate social and familial networks, like the influence of the Young family, of which Kitty is unaware, and persuades Kitty to hire her as a personal advisor.

Montecito, California, March 9, 2013. Rachel shows her bridesmaids her wedding gown, which she found at a sample sale in New York after Nick took her shopping in Paris. The Chus are awed when the glamorous Araminta and Astrid arrive for the rehearsal. Nick gets a warning text from his father just before a helicopter descends. Eleanor emerges and says she wants to give Rachel the chance to meet her father before her wedding. His name is Bao Gaoliang and he’s one of the top politicians in Beijing. Eleanor takes Rachel, Nick, and Kerry, Rachel’s mother, to the Four Seasons Biltmore in Santa Barbara to meet Rachel’s father, whom Kerry knew as Kao Wei.

Santa Barbara, California. Eleanor and Nick talk privately about how Eleanor recognized Carlton’s resemblance to Rachel and tracked down his father’s history using a private investigator. (This same investigator, in Crazy Rich Asians, produced the information that Kerry’s husband was a mob boss being held in a Chinese prison, but he ultimately turned out not to be Rachel’s birth father.) Kao Wei was a nickname for the young man who had an affair with Kerry and helped her escape her abusive husband, whom she had married young. Kao Wei then changed his name to advance his career, which was why Rachel was unable to locate him.

Eleanor reminds Nick that she interfered in his relationship with Rachel because she knew his Ah Ma, Su Yi, would never approve, and Eleanor knows what it is like to be the disliked daughter-in-law. She also advises Nick that Bao Gaoliang is very rich, saying, “these people aren’t just everyday rich with a few hundred million. They are China rich!” (138). And they only have one son. Nick is disgusted with his mother’s calculations but realizes that wealth and standing are important to her. Nick allows his mother to attend their wedding if Rachel forgives her. Eleanor says she will call Nick’s father, Philip, who lives in Sydney most of the time. She begs Nick to cut his hair before the ceremony.

Montecito, California. The narrator shares various thoughts and observations of the guests and participants at Nick and Rachel’s wedding. Eleanor gossips about the wedding with Astrid. Nick and Rachel dance to Cyndi Lauper singing “Time After Time.” Astrid gets a text from Charlie inviting her to meet up. Rachel tells Nick that her father invited them to visit him in China over the summer.