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" I think, at least for me, I'm so impressed by Shanghai and how all of China continues to evolve. On a style level, you're seeing this increased sophistication and brand awareness. "

Kevin Kwan

Seeing

Style

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" My father grew up in a life of extreme privilege. "

Kevin Kwan

Extreme

Father

" When cultural movements happen, it's so beyond your control. "

" Asian literature is evolving with the people. It's always a reflection on what's happening to the culture at large. "

" 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. "

" If you're the water boiler king of China, you're selling a billion water boilers. "

" 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. "

" They say truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, but there's such a thing as believability when you're writing a novel. "

" I grew up with a posh English accent, and all my aunts sounded as if they came out of a Merchant Ivory movie. "

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

" Hollywood is a whole other level of crazy. I've never met so many assistants who have assistants. It's a stratified society on its own. "

" I grew up in a household where there were really, really strong matriarchal characters. I think that's true of many Asian households. People tend to think of Asia as a misogynistic society or a society where men rule. At least in my experience, the women rule the household; the women rule the social scene. The men often become very useless. "

" 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. "

" I know an elderly society matron in Singapore who would rather walk in the scorching sun for blocks on end rather than have her chauffeur drive into the Central Business District at peak hour and pay the $1.50 surcharge. "

" Such huge money has been made in China - it can be hundreds of millions in a year - and there's a need to validate it by showing what they can buy and how much of it. "

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

" I live in New York, but I still get the village gossip. My apartment is a crash pad for so many Singaporean cousins and friends. "

" I remembered that my grandfather had spent his teenage years in Shanghai and that he went back after he finished medical school to work there in a hospital. So I went back into my family archives and was able to find out his exact address; it was a street that was in the French Concession. "

" To me, families are fascinating. I choose to explore it through comedy and through comic situations. "

Kevin Kwan

Comedy

Through

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

" My grandparents were far more English in their manners than they were Chinese. For example, we spoke English at home, had afternoon tea every day, and my grandfather, who attended university in Scotland, would smoke his pipe after dinner. "

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

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

Kevin Kwan

Sydney

Boarding

" I really don't keep an outline; I don't organize in any way. I just write. "

" There are old-money Asians that would never be caught dead with a Chanel handbag or sporting anything that has a label it. "

" My mother likes to say that I was conceived to shop - not just born to shop. My whole life as a child was following her and her sister and friends around on her shopping trips. "

" I grew up at a time in Singapore - the '70s and '80s - where it was still possible to go riding around the island barefoot. And I was one of these kids that was just climbing trees and running around the neighbourhood. "

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

" I have a photographic memory. "

Kevin Kwan

Photographic

Memory

" I'm not sure if being Chinese really helped, but I do think that if a non-Asian had written a book called 'Crazy Rich Asians,' they might not have been looked upon so kindly. "

" As a child, I didn't even realize I was Chinese. I was Singaporean, but my identity was wrapped up in the culture I was experiencing every day. "