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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. "

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" It used to be, on TV, you'd see only two types of Asians. You'd see the science geek who's using his mobile phone or something like that, or you'd see a very token Asian family - yuppie mother and father and two little Asian kids. It's the last barrier for Hollywood. "

Kevin Kwan

Family

Father

Phone

" 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. "

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

" 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

Know

Because

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I come from an old establishment family from Singapore. "

" 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. "

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

Kevin Kwan

Comedy

Through

" 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. "

Kevin Kwan

Someone

Baby

" It would have been amazing to have been a student at Oxford during that golden moment in the 1910s, rubbing elbows with the likes of Aldous Huxley and T.E. Lawrence, before World War I shattered everything forever. "

" 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. "

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

" '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. "

" The China Rich seem to be spending on a scale that's just beyond anything we've ever seen before. They are building and buying an insane amount of luxury residences around the world, commissioning huge flying palaces from Boeing, and paying ridiculous amounts for art. "

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

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

Kevin Kwan

Extreme

Father

" 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. "

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

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

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

" 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. "

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

" I have pictures of my grandmother from the 1920s and '30s in avant-garde dresses that looked like they could have come from the House of Worth or Lucien Lelong. She would never say if they were couture, but I do recall her telling me, 'All my clothes and shoes came from Paris.' "

" I was born on the island of Singapore, and I grew up there until I was 11 years old, when I was forcibly removed by my dad and planted into suburban Houston. I was in shock for the first year and then began to really love it - but didn't love it quite enough to stay. "

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

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

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

" A lot of the people who live the lives of 'Crazy Rich Asians' don't see the humour of their lives simply because this is just who they are. Even though I'm from that part of the world, I'm no longer part of that world. "