China Rich Girlfriend

China Rich Girlfriend is the 2015 sequel to Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians a novel about the wealthy Singapore elite. Kwan was urged to write the sequel by his publishers after the initial success of Crazy Rich Asians.^[1]

The title refers to a line in the novel in which a character exclaims over the wealth of the "China rich" who are billionaires.

Plot

In 2013, two years after the events that take place in Crazy Rich Asians, Nick Young has finally managed to repair his relationship with Rachel Chu and plans to marry her, much to his mother's dismay. However his mother, Eleanor Young, happens to make the acquaintance of Bao Shaoyen on a trip to the UK where she notices that Shaoyen's only son, Carlton, looks exactly like a male version of Rachel. Crashing Rachel and Nick's wedding rehearsal she tells Rachel that she has located her father and gives Nick her blessing to marry Rachel now that she has discovered that she could possibly be "China rich." Rachel is able to meet her father Gaoling before the ceremony and afterwards he invites her to spend time with him and his family in Shanghai. Once they have arrived Shaoyen bans Rachel from her home and insists that her husband refuse to see Rachel.

Carlton decides to see Rachel and to his surprise he ends up liking her and Nick. He introduces her to his on-again, off-again girlfriend Colette Bing and the two of them take Rachel and Nick clubbing and to Paris for a shopping spree. Despite getting along well with Carlton, Rachel is hurt and disappointed that her father seems distant and strange now that she is in China. When Carlton is drunk he accidentally tells her that his mother has banned her from the family believing she is out to seek half of the Bao fortune. Despite the fact that Carlton apologizes to Rachel when he is sober she takes a detour with one of her friends and considers leaving China. However, on her trip she becomes incredibly ill and is hospitalized for kidney failure. While at the hospital Nick receives a bouquet of flowers meant for Rachel and sees that it contains a note saying that Rachel was poisoned on purpose as a warning and that things will become more serious if she stays in China. Hearing of the threat Carlton accuses his mother of poisoning Rachel. Shaoyen insists she had nothing to do with it and complies with the police in order to find the poisoner. Feeling ashamed that he almost lost his daughter Gaoling brings her to his home where Rachel mets Shaoyen and the two begin to connect. Meanwhile, a break is made in the case and the police discover that Colette's assistant Roxanne had Rachel poisoned in the hopes that she would be scared enough to leave China and that the Bao fortune would remain with Carlton, something Colette worried about.

Despite the fact that Roxanne acted independently Carlton breaks things off with Colette and refuses to see her. Rachel agrees to meet with Colette and accepts her apology but quickly realizes she is not what she seems when Colette throws a tantrum in public when Rachel refuses to help Colette reconcile with Carlton. Rachel then calls Colette selfish and her takedown of Colette is taped and quickly goes viral.

Meanwhile, Astrid Teo, Nick's cousin, finds herself increasingly turning towards her former fiancé, Charlie Wu, after her husband, Michael, becomes increasingly cruel after his tech-company takes off. When Michael begins to believe that his company is the result of Astrid's father's meddling Astrid goes about trying to prove him wrong and eventually realizes that the company was bought at a loss by Charlie so that Michael would feel more confident in the marriage. Realizing that Charlie still loves her Astrid leaves Michael and Charlie leaves his wife.

Kitty Pong, a former soap actress who managed to marry her way into the Singapore elite tries to buy her way into high-society appearing in gossip magazines and buying high-profile art. When she finds herself continually shunned she hires the services of Corinna Ko-Tung, a woman from a well-born family who tries to help Kitty tone down her look and make the right connections. Ultimately Kitty is unable to listen to Corinna's advice. She engages in a high-profile international custody battle with her ex-husband and reveals herself as the lover of Jack Bing, Colette Bing's father.

Characters

• Rachel Young (née Chu): An ABC (American Born Chinese) economist who is a professor in NYC. Though she was raised by a single mother and had a humble upbringing, she is revealed to be the titular China rich girlfriend. She later marries Nick.
• Kerry Chu: Rachel's mother who once had a romantic relationship with Bao Gaoliang.
• Eleanor Young: Nick's mother who finally approves of Rachel after finding out that her father is a Chinese billionaire.
• Eddie Cheng: Nick's cousin who works in private banking, thanks to this he discovers Eleanor's secret account, which leads her to finding Rachel's real father.
• Goh Peik Lin: Rachel's rich Singaporean best friend whose family owns a property development and construction company, Near West Organization.
• Nick Young: Rachel's husband and a member of the Singapore elite.
• Bao Gaoliang/Kao Wei: Carlton and Rachel's biological father who is a top Chinese politician and also a billionaire who owns a pharmaceutical company. Under his boyhood name, Kao Wei, he used to help Kerry whenever her awful wealthy husband got very angry in their apartment building and they eventually fell for each other. Kerry never told him they had a child together.
• Bao Shaoyen: Carlton's mother who has a hard time accepting Rachel. She has a gift room that consists many of Hermès bags.
• Carlton Bao: The 23-year-old English educated son of Bao Shaoyen and Bao Gaoliang who lives a very wild lifestyle. He is Rachel's paternal half-brother who looks exactly like her.
• Colette Bing: A famous fashion blogger and the spoiled daughter of either the third or fifth (depending on who is doing the ranking) richest men in China. Carlton's on-again, off-again girlfriend, who is a control freak.
• Mrs. Bing: Colette's germaphobic mother.
• Richie Yang: Son of a multi-billionaire father who's also one of the top richest men in China. He's one of Colette's suitors and also the one Colette's father wants her to marry.
• Jack Bing: Colette's multi-billionaire father who insists her on marrying Richie, due to their equal multi-billionaire status. He is later revealed to have an affair with Kitty.
• Roxanne Ma: Colette's personal assistant who's very loyal to her. She was Colette's 18th birthday present from her father.
• Michael Teo: Astrid's newly minted billionaire husband whose start-up company brings a huge success, due to unknowingly bought by Charlie. His success makes him mean and terrible.
• Charlie Wu: Astrid's billionaire former fiancé who still loves her, despite being married to someone else.
• Astrid Teo (née Leong): Nick's fashionable cousin who is referred to as "the goddess" and is known for her impeccable fashion sense. She secretly still loves Charlie and the feeling deepens even more when Michael gets crueler due to his new found success.
• Bernard Tai: Kitty's estranged billionaire husband who's been hiding in California due to a depression after a mix-up on his plastic surgery.
• Kitty Tai (née Pong): Bernard's wife who is a former soap-star turned social climber.
• Corinna Ko-Tung: A woman coming from a well-bred family who helps Kitty in her social-climbing agenda.

Reception

The novel received overwhelmingly positive reviews.^[2][3]

References