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" I sort of wanted to reveal this other side of Asia: Southeast Asia, where the Chinese have been wealthy for generations and have different ways of relating to money. I wanted to sort of reveal this world to readers. "

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" In Asia, it's customary to get together with your entire extended family on a regular basis, and it's all rife with politics. "

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" I remember I had an aunt that lived in a house that had this beautiful ceramic wall that was entirely a painting of a peacock. "

" I came from a family of extremely old money, and so by the time I was born, there was really just a trickle of money left. "

" My golden dream was to move to New York and live in the Village and become that cool rebel beatnik Jack Kerouac. "

" 'Crazy Rich Asians' may be fiction, but given the situation I grew up in, I've had an unparalleled view into the very real world it depicts. "

" I'm naturally a shy, quiet person. "

" My father went to boarding school in Sydney when he was 14. "

Kevin Kwan

Sydney

Boarding

" I think snobbery is one of the oldest customs in the world, and the rich will always find ways to rank each other and make themselves feel more special than others. "

" There's always been this tradition of satirizing these rich groups of people. "

" I have a photographic memory. "

Kevin Kwan

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Memory

" I go to Shenzhen, China, and am taken to a vast luxury spa with a hundred leather recliners and a hundred accompanying plasma screen televisions bolted to the ceiling. "

Kevin Kwan

Ceiling

Leather

" I love Netflix and Amazon and watching movies on streamers as much as the next person. "

" Every family is a crazy family. "

" I'm not revealing any deep, hidden secret that there are wealthy people in Asia. "

" Canada has become such a staging area for Chinese money. "

" I spent the first 12 years of my life growing up in Singapore. Back then, in the early '80s, it was still a tropical island at the tip of the Malay Peninsula striving to shine on the world stage. "

" When my first novel, 'Crazy Rich Asians,' was published in 2013, many readers were astonished to learn that in Asia, there were women who dressed in couture from morning till night. "

" I moved to New York and went to art school at Parsons School of Design. Became a photographer. Became a creative consultant. "

" I've recently rediscovered Anthony Trollope. I used to read him back in college, and a friend turned me on to a whole new series of his work, 'The Palliser Series.' It's a series of seven or eight books. "

Kevin Kwan

Back

Work

" I've lived in New York City for over twenty years now, and every single day is like a new adventure. At this point, there are many places I'd love to visit, but I can't imagine living anywhere else on the planet. "

" Couture occupies the uppermost stratosphere of fashion. It is the holy of holies, as only about 2,000 women globally are fortunate enough to wear these precious garments tailored to their exact measurements, making it perhaps the most exclusive club in the world. "

" Old money in Southeast Asia is much more discrete and low key. It's about not wearing brand names. It's about being invisible, almost. The billionaire can be taking the bus with you. "

" Warner Bros. is just this amazing historic studio that does great movies. "

" I met a Shanghai photographer who finds these old streets and matches the French names to what they are today. I was able to find my grandfather's block, and just walking the same streets and finding his house was deeply moving. I finally felt connected to China. "

" It's not normal to go into a house and see a pond in the middle of the living room full of baby sharks. It's not normal to go to someone's garage and see a private plane. "

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" In order for me to write a scene, it's very important for me to see and experience everything with my own eyes, so yes, I was able to visit some remarkable houses and destinations while I was in China. "

" People have always been fascinated by the foibles of the wealthy and privileged. "

" I wanted to introduce a contemporary Asia to a North American audience. "

" I wanted to explore what all this new-found wealth means for the different generations of Chinese who have to live together in this place that is transforming at warp speed into the richest country on the planet. "

" I do believe that peoples' natures can be changed, and they have to be changed if we want to live in this modern world and be a part of it. "