Rich People Problems is a 2017 satirical romantic comedy novel by Kevin Kwan. It is the third and final novel in Kwan's "Crazy Rich..." trilogy that looks at the rich and powerful families of Singapore. The plot revolves around the three clans descending upon Shang Su Yi's deathbed to attempt to be included in her will, as she is allegedly extremely wealthy. The novel was preceded by the bestsellers Crazy Rich Asians in 2013 and China Rich Girlfriend in 2015. Two follow-ups to the Crazy Rich Asians film are in development, based on China Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Problems.
In 2015, two years after the events that take place in China Rich Girlfriend, Nick and Rachel Young (née Chu), an economics professor at New York University (NYU), are happily married and living their life in Manhattan. Nick is informed by his mother Eleanor that his grandmother, Su Yi, has had a heart attack, and that he must come home to reconcile with her before she dies. While Nick wants to make up with his grandmother out of guilt for having shut her out of his life for marrying Rachel (as Su Yi was opposed to the marriage), his mother wants him to make amends so that he will be re-introduced into the will and inherit Tyersall Park, Su Yi's home.
The extended Shang-Young clan has descended upon Tyersall Park to say their last goodbyes with the hopes of getting into Su Yi's good graces and inheriting part of her fortune. Nicholas is initially prevented from seeing Su Yi due to scheming from his cousin, Eddie Cheng, who believes he has a shot at inheriting his grandmother's estate. Eddie lies and convinces the entire family and house staff that Su Yi does not wish to see Nick while she is on her deathbed. With the help of the head of security, the head maid (who overheard Eddie's plotting) and Astrid, Nick is able to sneak into Tyersall Park and speak with his grandmother while she is in a cardiac intensive care unit in her bedroom. She is happy to see him and they make amends. Meanwhile, Astrid, Nick's cousin, becomes engaged again to Charlie Wu. Her relationship with Charlie faces obstacles from Charlie's scorned ex-wife Isabel Wu and Astrid's soon-to-be ex-husband Michael Teo.
Su Yi dies and everyone prepares for her funeral. During the funeral, Astrid receives a grainy video from Michael depicting her and Charlie having sex in Charlie's bedroom, with a threat of releasing the video unless he is given 5 billion dollars in their divorce settlement. In Su Yi's will, she leaves specific cash legacies to the housekeeper, cook, ladies-in-waiting, chauffeur, head of security. She leaves shares of Tyersall Park to each of her four daughters (Alexandra, Felicity, Victoria, and Catherine each get 12.5% ) and her son (Phillip, Nick's father gets 30%) along with a share to Nick and his cousin Alistair Cheng (both receive 10%). Upon the reading of the will, Eddie is humiliated to be left with nothing except his grandfather's antique sapphire cuff links. Astrid inherits Su Yi's fashionable dresses and jewelry. Jacqueline, Su Yi's goddaughter, inherits her shares at Ling Holdings, making her a wealthy woman and angering the family, who expected to inherit some of those shares, and now only have Tyersall Park.
Returning to Tyersall Park, Eddie furiously confronts Fiona for humiliating him by not telling him about the contents of the will, and ruining their family's opportunity to live in luxury. Fiona claims that she respected Su Yi's privacy and that she only picked up the pen to sign the paper as a witness. Eddie ends up curled up in a ball, crying.
The family initially agrees to sell Tyersall Park to Jack Bing, to be used by his new wife Kitty, the former Hong Kong soap actress (and Alistair's former fiancée), for ten billion dollars, as there are no funds to maintain it. Nick cannot bring himself to let Tyersall Park go, and so he attempts to buy out the shares owned by his four aunts, with his father signing over his portion directly to Nick. However, he is not able to raise the money to do this.
Isabel suffers a psychotic breakdown and in a fit of rage releases the sex tape of Charlie and Astrid on WeChat, revealing her involvement in helping Michael blackmail Astrid. She attempts to commit suicide and taint Charlie and Astrid's new house by hanging herself from a chandelier. The chandelier breaks, saving her, but she ends up in a coma.
Astrid is shunned by her family and retreats into seclusion, not even telling Charlie where she went. He goes to great lengths to track her down, eventually finding her on an island in the Philippines. He reveals to her that he has gotten Michael to sign off on their divorce without any challenge by threatening to have him prosecuted for illegal surveillance of Astrid and blackmail. He tells her that though Isabel survived her suicide attempt and is now in a stable condition, her family had found out that she was involved in blackmailing Astrid with Michael and that she will face humiliation of her own as a result. Astrid says that she wants to stay and to bring her son Cassian to live with the people on the island. Charlie is willing to let her have the life she wants, but asks if there is any room for him in it.
Nick takes a trip to visit an elderly Thai prince, based on a note left to him by his grandmother, thinking that this is the key to the funding to buy Tyersall Park. However he learns that the Prince was his grandmother's first love, and Aunt Catherine's biological father. Nick also learns that during World War II, Su Yi aided in the resistance effort against the Japanese occupation of Singapore by providing Tyersall Park as a safe haven for many Chinese and British agents working against the Japanese. Nick then tries to block the sale of Tyersall Park by claiming that it is a historic site. Rachel and Nick bring together Nick's friends Colin and Araminta Khoo, Rachel's friend Goh Peik Lin, and Alistair to buy Tyersall Park and turn it into the Tyersall Museum and Hotel. Kitty completes the deal by becoming a secret investor in their group in order to spite Jack, who had decided to buy Tyersall Park for Colette, instead of Kitty.
One year later, Peik Lin is marrying Alistair, with Nick and Rachel serving as best man and matron of honor. After several years of trying to conceive, Araminta and Colin now have a two-month-old son. Eddie finally changes his ways after Fiona gives him an ultimatum: he goes to therapy, or she files for divorce. He decides to go to therapy and now is dealing with his feelings in a more positive manner. Astrid continues to live on the island with Charlie and has started designing her own clothes. She does not wish to get married yet, instead preferring to live "a life of sin" with Charlie, enjoying the fact that this very much annoys her parents. Rachel reveals to Nick that she is six weeks pregnant. They both jokingly agree to not tell Nick's mother about the news, agreeing to wait at least until their child is 21.
Writing
Kwan has said that this book was actually the first he had mapped out when he was first planning his trilogy.[1]
Characters
Rachel Young (née Chu): Wife of Nick Young. A Chinese-American woman who is an economics professor at New York University.
Nicholas "Nick" Young: Rachel's husband who is a history professor, also at New York University. He currently lives with Rachel in New York City, but is originally from Singapore and hails from a wealthy and powerful clan.
Eleanor Young (née Sung): Nick's controlling mother, who schemes for her son to inherit her mother-in-law's great estate, Tyersall Park.
Astrid Leong: Nick's fashion icon cousin whose reputation is put on the line due to her restarted relationship with her earlier fiancé, Charlie Wu, while she is still married to Michael Teo.
Goh Peik Lin: Rachel's rich Singaporean best friend from university, who later marries Nick's cousin, Alistair Cheng.
Araminta Khoo (née Lee): Heiress of the Lee Family and wife of Nick's best friend, the billionaire Colin Khoo, who just had a miscarriage. At the end of the book, she and Colin have a two-month old child Auberon.
Edison "Eddie" Cheng: Nick's cousin who's very eager to inherit Tyersall Park. Eddie is ambitious and wants to prove to everyone who matters that he can live a lavish lifestyle, yet his personal philosophy clashes with his parents who live a simple and modest life from their wealth. He is later humiliated upon the reading of Su Yi's will which left him out of the Tyersall Park shares that not only went to his mother, his aunts and uncle, but also Nick and Alistair.
Fiona Cheng (née Tung) : Eddie's wife, who comes from Hong Kong old money. She is one of the witnesses to Shang Su Yi's will.
Alistair Cheng: Eddie's younger brother who is involved in Hong Kong's movie business. He later marries Rachel's best friend, Peik Lin. Su Yi left him a 10% share in Tyersall Park.
Tan Sri Harry Leong and Puan Sri Felicity Leong (née Young): The extremely wealthy, powerful, and controlling parents of Astrid, Alexander, Henry Jr., and Peter. They blame Astrid for the sex tape scandal and force her to leave Singapore until it dies down.
Alexandra "Alix" Cheng (née Young): Mother of Eddie, Alistair, and Cecilia, married to Dr. Malcolm Cheng. Eddie resents Alix and her husband for not flaunting their wealth enough.
Oliver T'sien: Nick's cousin who also works as Kitty's art consultant and buyer. His family has apparently lost most of their money in the Barings Bank collapse, and he keeps it a secret from his wealthier relatives.
Cassandra Shang: Nick's gossipy second cousin who seems to know everything about everyone, earning her the nickname "Radio One Asia".
Jacqueline Ling: Shang Su Yi's youthful goddaughter, daughter of a wealthy, old-moneyed philanthropist and currently the partner of a Norwegian billionaire. She inherits a huge amount of shares at the Ling family's company which were originally won by Shang Su Yi during a mahjong game, and she is now worth half a billion dollars.
Kitty Bing (formerly Kitty Tai, née Pong): The new jet-setting wife of one of China's richest men, billionaire Jack Bing. She always feels upstaged by her stepdaughter, Colette, both in her husband's attention and her high society life. Thanks to investing her entire divorce settlement from her previous husband in Amazon, she manages to become the secret investor in Tyersall Park, keeping it from being sold to Jack (and Colette).
Datin Carol Tai: A devout Christian who is the widow of a corrupt billionaire, the late Dato' Tai Toh Lui. She is on good terms with her former daughter-in-law, Kitty.
Shang Su Yi, Lady Young: Nick's powerful, dying grandmother who lives on a great estate, Tyersall Park. Nick and Su Yi were very close throughout Nick's childhood, but in Crazy Rich Asians, she forbids him to marry Rachel. He refuses, and this drives a wedge between the two. She later reconciles with Nick.
Alfred Shang: Shang Su Yi's powerful younger brother who lives on a great estate in Surrey, England.
Victoria Young: One of Nick's aunts, she is Shang Su Yi's only unmarried daughter.
M.C. Catherine Aakara (née Young): Nick's aunt who married into Thai royalty. She is the secret love child of Shang Su Yi and a Thai prince.
Michael Teo: Astrid's scorned soon-to-be ex-husband, a tech billionaire who plots revenge on Astrid by ruining her reputation. After Charlie threatens to expose his blackmail and illegal surveillance to the authorities, Michael finally leaves Astrid alone.
Charlie Wu: Astrid's tech billionaire ex-boyfriend, later fiancé, who finally gets back together with her, despite their obstacles.
Isabel Wu (née Lai): Charlie's scorned and mentally ill ex-wife who suddenly shows up in Singapore to ruin Astrid's reputation. After she attempts suicide, her family discovers Isabel's involvement with Michael and spurns her for embarrassing them.
Colette Montagu-Scott, Countess of Palliser (née Bing): Kitty's stepdaughter who seems to have changed a great deal since her video scandal from China Rich Girlfriend. She is now married to environmentalist Lucien Plantagenet Montagu-Scott, Earl of Palliser, who is himself the son of England's fifth-largest landowner, the Duke of Glencora, and a wealthy French noblewoman.
Jack Bing: Kitty's new billionaire husband, one of the richest men in China. He gives an enormous divorce settlement to his former wife and a trust fund to his daughter, Colette, despite having claimed that he cut her off due to her video scandal, both of which bother Kitty a great deal.
Carlton Bao: Rachel's sports car-collecting, Cambridge educated, fuerdai half-brother, who dated Colette in the past. He accompanies Rachel to Tyersall Park for Su Yi's funeral. He later begins a relationship with Scheherazade Shang, Nick's second cousin.
Scheherazade Shang: Alfred Shang's beautiful Eurasian granddaughter, the elder daughter of Sir Leonard Shang and Lady India Heskeith. A student at the Sorbonne, she is also Carlton's new girlfriend. She has been pursued by high-profile men like Prince Harry, but without success.
Philip Young: Nick's father and Eleanor's husband. Son of Shang Su Yi and Sir James Young; he lives in Sydney, Australia.
Reception
The novel received positive reviews and was noted by USA Today to be "a memorable, laugh-out-loud Asian glitz fest that’s a pure pleasure to read".[2]
Film adaptation
Time reported on August 15, 2018, that Kwan has been tasked with developing the sequel to Crazy Rich Asians from his two follow-up novels including China Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Problems.[3] The planning was still in pre-production concerning the back-to-back filming of both sequels following Crazy Rich Asians as of August 2018, though several of the key actors are committed to other projects until 2020.[4]Awkwafina was interviewed in January 2019 and indicated that there were still no scripts for the sequel and that production filming had not started.[5] According to Town and Country magazine, the filming and premiere of the film is not scheduled to take place until 2020.[6] According to a Slash film journal article, the two sequels, including Rich People Problems, will be shot back-to-back in 2020 once the filming commences.[7]
King Wu of Zhou was the founder and first king of the Zhou dynasty. The chronology of his reign is disputed but is generally thought to have begun around 1046 BCE and ended with his death three years later.
Lady Xun, formally Lady of Yuzhang (豫章君), was a concubine of Emperor Yuan of Jin while he was the Prince of Langye. Initially, he favored her greatly; the couple had two sons – Sima Shao and Sima Pou (司馬裒). Because of the favor that she received, Sima Rui's wife Princess Yu Mengmu (虞孟母) was very jealous of her and mistreated her. Lady Xun, not happy about her low station and Princess Yu's mistreatment, often complained and was rebuked by Prince Rui. Eventually, he threw her out of the household. After Sima Shao succeeded to the throne as Emperor Ming in 323, he gave her a mansion and created her the Lady of Jian'an. Later that year, he welcomed her back to the palace. After he died and his son Emperor Cheng succeeded to the throne, she was treated as virtual empress dowager without the title, and she probably effectively raised Emperor Cheng, since Emperor Cheng's mother Yu Wenjun died in 328 in the midst of the Su Jun Disturbance, while Emperor Cheng was only seven. She died in 335 and was posthumously created the Lady of Yuzhang, and a temple was built for her. Some sources mention that she was a Xianbei, and that Sima Shao inherited her exotic looks.
Portrayals of East Asians in American film and theatre has been a subject of controversy. These portrayals have frequently reflected an ethnocentric perception of East Asians rather than realistic and authentic depictions of East Asian cultures, colors, customs, and behaviors.
Zu Jia (祖甲) or Di Jia (帝甲), personal name Zǐ Zǎi (子載), was a Shang dynasty King of China. He was the third recorded son of Wu Ding, the first Chinese monarch verified by contemporary records. Having inherited a large area of lands conquered by his father and brother, he led the Shang kingdom through the last brief period of stability. After his reign, Shang went into irreversible decline.
Hello! Miss is a 2007 South Korean television series starring Lee Da-hae, Lee Ji-hoon, Ha Seok-jin and Yeon Mi-joo. Based on Lee Ji-wan's novel Five Kimchi Mandu, the series aired on KBS2 from March 19 to May 8, 2007 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 16 episodes.
Herman Kwan Hoi-San was a Hong Kong actor. His English name was Herman Kwan. Kwan started off as a Cantonese opera actor in street theatre before joining New Voice Opera Troupe (新聲劇團). He also started singing for early Hong Kong film soundtracks and moved on to act in films, mostly adaption of opera in Cantonese. He became famous and acted in many lead roles. When Hong Kong films started to move towards Mandarin, Kwan's career faltered and joined TVB and acted in various roles. Directors and filmmakers rediscovered his talent and cast him in many supporting roles in films. In 2001, Kwan suffered a stroke and was left mute and paralysed. He died in 2006.
Good Will Evil is a 2008 Taiwanese horror film directed by Lin Yu-fen and Wang Ming-chan, starring Terri Kwan, Tammy Chen, Leon Dai, Lu Yi-ching, Cindy Chi and Chen Wen-cheng. It was released on November 7, 2008 in Taiwan. The Chinese title of the movie is a heterograph of 兄妹, which means "elder brother and younger sister".
Kwan Shan was a Hong Kong film actor. Kwan appeared as a romantic lead actor in Mandarin-language films created in Hong Kong, especially during the 1960s. His roles included several Shaw Brothers Studio productions.
Tiny Times, also known as Tiny Times 1.0 is the first installment of the film series written and directed by Guo Jingming and based on the best-selling novel of the same name also by Guo.
Tiny Times 2 is a 2013 Chinese romantic drama film and the second installment of the Tiny Times franchise directed and written by Guo Jingming. The film was filmed together with the first film, and is based on the second half of Guo's own novel. Tiny Times 3, the third installment of the Tiny Times series was released on July 17, 2014.
Ronny Xin Yi Chieng is a Malaysian comedian and actor based in the United States. He is a senior correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, and he created and starred in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation sitcom Ronny Chieng: International Student. He has also portrayed roles in films such as Crazy Rich Asians and the English version of Inspector Sun and the Curse of the Black Widow.
Love Yunge from the Desert is a 2015 Chinese television series based on Tong Hua's novel Song in the Clouds. It is a sequel to Sound of the Desert (2014), also based on a novel by Tong Hua. The series was produced by Yu Zheng and stars Angelababy, Du Chun, Lu Yi, Chen Xiao and Yang Rong. It aired on Hunan Television from 13 September to 23 November 2015.
China Rich Girlfriend is a 2015 satirical romantic comedy novel by Kevin Kwan. It is the sequel to 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. The title refers to a line in the novel in which Nick's mother, Eleanor, exclaims over the wealth of the "China rich" who are billionaires, "These people aren't just everyday rich with a few hundred million. They are China rich!" The novel was followed by a sequel, Rich People Problems, in 2017.
Crazy Rich Asians is a satirical 2013 romantic comedy novel by Kevin Kwan. Kwan stated that his intention in writing the novel was to "introduce a contemporary Asia to a North American audience". He claimed the novel was loosely based on his own childhood in Singapore. The novel became a bestseller and was followed by two sequels, China Rich Girlfriend in 2015 and Rich People Problems in 2017. A film adaptation of the novel was released on August 15, 2018.
Crazy Rich Asians is a 2018 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Jon M. Chu, from a screenplay by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, based on the 2013 novel of the same title by Kevin Kwan. The film stars Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong, and Michelle Yeoh. It follows a Chinese-American professor, Rachel, who travels to Singapore with her boyfriend Nick and is shocked to discover that Nick's family is one of the richest families in Singapore.
Tyersall Park is an estate in Singapore, bound by Holland Road and Tyersall Avenue, and near the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Previously a private land belonging to the Sultan of Johor from 1862, some portions of it had been acquired by the Government of Singapore in 1990 and in 2009 respectively.
The Crazy Rich Asians media franchise is a novel and film series created by Singaporean-American author Kevin Kwan. The franchise was established with the publication of the novel Crazy Rich Asians in 2013, which was inspired by Kwan's childhood in Singapore. Crazy Rich Asians was followed by the novels China Rich Girlfriend (2015) and Rich People Problems (2017), as well as the 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians.
Michelle Yeoh is a Malaysian heiress, socialite, model and fashion influencer. She and her twin sister were the first Malaysians to debut at Queen Charlotte's Ball. She rose to prominence walking for Dolce & Gabbana at Milan Fashion Week. She served on the advisory committee for the British Fashion Council.
Yi Jiang, was a Chinese queen and government minister. She was married to King Wu of Zhou. She was the first queen of the Zhou dynasty. She, Fu Hao and Lady Nanzi belonged to the few politically influential women in China prior to Queen Dowager Xuan.
SuperKitties is an animated television series created by Paula Rosenthal that premiered on Disney Junior on January 11, 2023. Prior to its premiere, the series was renewed for a second season in January 2023. In February 2024, the series was renewed for a third season. Critical reception for the series was positive overall.
↑ "Crazy Rich Asians 2: Everything We Know About The Sequel's Story" BY ANA DUMARAOG. AUG 28, 2018. Screen Rant ORIGINALS. Archived 2018-08-30 at the Wayback Machine
↑ "A Crazy Rich Asians Sequel Is in the Works and We Can't Wait Here's everything we know so far," by CAROLINE HALLEMANN, MAR 6, 2019, Town and Country magazine. Archived 2019-07-19 at the Wayback Machine
↑ "Crazy Rich Asians Sequels to Shoot Back-to-Back", December 7th, 2018, by Hoai-Tran Bui, Slash films journal. Archived 2019-11-08 at the Wayback Machine
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