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" The most important thing to keep in mind is the incredible diversity of talent that's out there - there are so many great actors from all over Asia, from Singapore and Hong Kong to the Philippines and Mainland China, not to mention many great Asian-American actors who are eager for fun and challenging roles. "

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" 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. "

Kevin Kwan

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" There's so much emphasis on the economic might of China, of Southeast Asia, Asian 'Super Tigers' and things like that. But nobody was really looking from the perspective of a family story, of these individuals. "

" I would not call my family 'traditional Chinese.' We were more what I would term the Colonial Chinese. "

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

" As a child, I could bike down the hill from my house and grab an ice-cold bottle of soda from the neighborhood grocer, which was nothing more than a corrugated metal shack run by two Indian men clad in sarongs. "

" 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. "

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

" The idea of Asian ascendancy has entered public culture. "

" In Singapore, there may be 50 old-money families, but you wouldn't know them to look at them. "

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

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" Especially in the West, people want to understand Asia on a deeper level because it's become the engine of the world economy, like it or not. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" One of the dreams on my wish list is to spend more time in Thailand. "

" 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. "

" Living in the West, you see how there's only two versions of how Asian men are supposed to be. Either they're very nice, yuppie husbands with children in ads, or they're IT geeks. "

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

" 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. "

" I'm a writer. I'm naturally introverted, so being the public face of something, I don't think I do it well. "

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

" My father came from old money. There was less of an expectation for the children to earn a living. "

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

" Growing up in Singapore, I wasn't allowed to visit China. So when I was finally able to go there after the country began opening up to tourism in the 1990s, I found it to be utterly astounding. "

" People are often disappointed when they meet me because I'm not this giant, flamboyant - you know, I don't wear sequined jackets. "

Kevin Kwan

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Because

" 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. "

" Even if they're not Asian or super rich... everyone has a nagging mother. Everyone has that obnoxious uncle, or that cousin who's a bit too snobby. "