History Literature / CrazyRichAsians

--> '''Nadine''': (looking at Eleanor's new bag) Let me tell you what I’m appreciating right now—your new Birkin bag! I never thought you’d be caught dead with one of these. Didn’t you once say that only [[NouveauRiche tacky Mainlanders]] carried such bags?

** Jack Bing, Colette's ultra rich billionaire father, is the second richest man in China (or the third, fourth, seventh, depending on the magazine doing the ranking). He once tried to buy an entire Chinese luxury hotel for Colette, because she loved the hotel so much, but the hotel refused to sell at any price.

** Pan TingTing, the gorgeous "Jennifer Lawrence of Asia", is clearly Creator/FanBingbing. Oddly, she is namedropped in ''Crazy Rich Asians'', but given this new name in ''China Rich Girlfriend''.

--> '''Colette''': (after amazing Rachel with her bathroom) Okay, we better skip the tour of my ''closets'', I don't actually want to be blamed for your breakup.

** Pan Tingting, Colette's celebrity best friend, dubbed as "the Jennifer Lawrence of China", is obviously based on the real-life Chinese superstar, Creator/FanBingbing.

* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: [[spoiler:Surprisingly, Su Yi and Nick's grandfather, James Young. Su Yi initially didn't want to marry him and made his life hell for the first years, eventually fleeing to Thailand and starting an affair with the (now married) Thai prince she had fallen in love with during the war. After she got pregnant with Nick's Aunt Catherine, however, she realized she couldn't stay in Thailand as her lover's mistress and returned to Singapore, begging for James to take her back. James, surprisingly, did, forgiving her and treating Catherine as his own (to the point that she was his favorite out of all his children), and the two fell in love afterwards]].

--> '''Rachel''': You know, this is beyond absurd. For a while there I actually felt bad for you, even though I was violently ill for a week because of your actions. But now I have nothing but pity for you. You're right, I will never be like you--thanks so much for the compliment! You're nothing more than a spoiled, entitled little shit. And unlike you, I'm ''proud'' of my roots--I'm not talking about my birth father, I'm talking about the honest, hardworking mother who raised me, and the amazing family that supported her. We didn't make some crazy fortune overnight, and we won't ever need to hire some fancy butler to teach us manners. You don't live in the real world, you never have, so I'm not even going to try arguing with you - it's way below my pay grade to bother. You sit in your perfect little eco-luxury bubble, while your father's companies are the biggest polluters in China. You may have all the money in the world but you are the most morally impoverished ''child'' I've ever met! Grow up, [[spoiler: Colette]], and get a life!"

* AllForNothing: Everyone's efforts (especially Eddie's) to suck up to Su Yi in her last couple of weeks. [[spoiler: She was never going to change her will on her death bed over something as petty as who took a plane and who did not - she did not even change it over six years after all the scandals. Turns out the lion's share went to her reportedly-disinherited son Philip and absent goddaughter Jacqueline.]]

* MeddlingParents: Eleanor, Nick's mom, is always manipulating aspects of his personal life. She claims it's always in his best interests.
** Astrid's parents also count.

** Ming Kah-Ching, the [[AluminiumChristmasTrees extremely aptly named]] father of Leo Ming, is a stand in for real-life billionaire Ling Kah-Ching.

* DotingGrandparent: Carol Tai has begun taking Gisele to church with her every Sunday.

* PoorJudgeOfCharacter: Eleanor considers Rachel to be selfish, slutty, goldigger and Francesca Shaw and Amanda to be more suitable girls. However, Rachel proves to be a very humble and well-mannered professor, while Amanda and Francesca had a threesome with Nick when they were all teenagers. After her miserly grandfather wakes up from his column by and starts taking back the family fortune, Francesca proves to be a disgusting gold digger in her own right who yells at her parents for ''not pulling the plug on the old man when they could'', starts an affair with a very wealthy married man, and later marries a very wealthy Iranian in London.

* LongDistanceRelationship: Nick's parents live in two different places: his father, Philip, moved out of Singapore long time ago because he's had enough with his family's nonsense and decides to live a quite, peaceful life in Sydney, while his mother, Eleanor, stays in Singapore.

** Taken UpToEleven in ''China Rich Girlfriend'' with Colette's mom's plane that has an IMAX screening room, a grand lounge, a karaoke lounge, a hydromassage room, a lavish dining room, a clinic, and the one that really impresses Rachel, ''a koi pond.''

--> '''Colette''': I don't understand. How can a credit card can ever be rejected? It's not like it's a kidney!

* AllForNothing: Can be discussed. For all the fuss that she makes about it in ''Crazy Rich Asians'', by ''Rich People Problems'' it's clear that [[spoiler: Su Yi does not care who Nick marries, nor any of her relatives for that matter. She proves it by giving Rachel beautiful pearl studs on her deathbed, helping the once-unworthy Charlie plan a grand proposal to Astrid, and leave the disinherited Alexander and his wife Salimah a beautiful estate in Malaysia. Even her dislike of Eleanor does not prevent her from leaving Philip the largest share of Tyersall Park as she had always planned. Her discontentment with Nick was more over his absence and the things he told her, and even then that was never enough to change her will.

* AdultFear: [[spoiler: Astrid]]'s spouse slowly begins changing in personality, culminating in emotional and verbal abuse to the former and their child, and no matter how [[spoiler: Astrid]] attempts to calm them and make excuses for it, everyone else can see that [[spoiler: Michael]] has changed for the worse.

** [[spoiler: Michael, who has [[TookALevelInJerkass taken a level in jerkass]], emotionally and verbally abuses his wife and son, and locked Cassian in a closet for four hours.]]

** Trope Namer Richie Yang spends nearly three full pages of the second novel bragging about his Richard Plumper Tourbillon (based on Richard Mille, whose watches start at $100k).

** According to [[http://www.crazyrichasiansmovie.net/ the upcoming movie adaptation's website]], Nick's family is worth 13 billion dollars.
* TheBeautifulElite: The novel revolves around the attractive and super-rich characters, such as Nick, Colin, Araminta, and Astrid.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: The "good guys" Nick, Rachel, Araminta, Colin, and Astrid.
* BetterAsFriends: Astrid repeatedly remembers how she and Charlie made great friends, but a terrible couple. [[spoiler: Charlie, over time, begins to realize he doesn't agree.]]

** Tyersall Park. Home of [[spoiler: Nick's]] family, that is basically Singapore's [[Series/DowntonAbbey Downton Abbey]]. According to Peik Lin, it is fifty acres ''at least.''[[note]]It's actually sixty acres.[[/note]]

** Colette's home ''China Rich Girlfriend''. Even Nick is impressed.
** Subverted by [[spoiler: Bernard Tai, in ''China Rich Girlfriend'',]] who lives in an upper-middle class house in Los Angeles.

* BourgeoisBohemian: [[spoiler: Bernard Tai,]] due to a life-changing incident during his plastic surgery, has been adapting healthy and progressive lifestyle and values.
** Colette's new husband, [[spoiler: Lord Lucien Plantagenet Montagu-Scott, Earl of Palliser]], is an environmental lawyer who, of course, cares deeply about the environment.

** Nick. Because of his looks, wealth, and status, he is regarded as the number one bachelor in Asia amongst the families who know who he is.

* DarkSecret: Initially, the revelation that Rachel is from a broken home. In full, [[spoiler:she was the product of an affair between her mother Kerry and Kao Wei/Bao Gaoliang, who saved her so many times from her rich and abusive husband. Kerry's horrible in-laws were thrilled until the baby turned out to be a girl. They then planned to half-blind the infant Rachel to exploit a loophole in the one-child policy (a handicapped baby can be disregarded, so they could try for a son). When Kerry discovered their plan, she took Rachel and ran to safety with a distant relative in America. Neither Kao Wei nor her husband knew who the baby's true father was.]]

-->''"I can't watch these people spend a gazillion dollars on [[spoiler: a wedding]] when half the world is starving."''

** It turns out fashion has always been Astrid's passion, she doesn't even care if her clothes are from the street vendors or high end couturiers. After all, no matter what she wears, she still manages to look stylish. [[spoiler: She once even got a job offer at Yves Saint Laurent in Paris after college and considered starting her own fashion business, but her parents disapproved. She later learns to sew and manages to make her own clothes that turn out impressive.]]

* FootnoteFever: Kevin Kwan loves footnotes and they get snarkier as they go on. Not only does he translate the language references and the social references, there's jokes about Asian drivers, Game of Thrones, and how he hated the teacher who beat him in school.
* GenerationXerox: Played with. [[spoiler:Rachel's mother]] also fell in love with someone far wealthier than her when she was younger [[spoiler: but while Nick is humble and kind to Rachel, this man was emotionally abusive and controlling. He and his parents mistreated Rachel's mother,]] and only treated her well when she became pregnant. And unbeknownst to them, [[spoiler: Rachel's biological father was another, much kinder man. They were also going to try and blind Rachel in one eye when they found out she was a girl so they'd be allowed to have another child and hopefully get a son. With the help of Rache's real father, they escaped to America.]]

** Rachel is [[DiscussedTrope accused of this]] by Eleanor and others, but she [[NotWithThemForTheMoney averts it.]] She didn't have a clue that Nick's family was rich until she met them long after they started dating. [[spoiler:Bao Shaoyen also suspects her of this, until she gets a good look at Rachel and realizes that Rachel really is Gaoling's daughter.]]
** Kitty Pong. She breaks up with Alistair after Oliver convinces her that he's too [[SecretlyWealthy "poor"]] for her and lures her into marrying billionaire Bernard. [[spoiler:She later divorces Bernard for even richer multi-billionaire Jack Bing.]]

** Eleanor and her bible study friends can count as well.

* LongDistanceRelationship: Nick's parents live in two different places: His father, Philip, has moved out of Singapore long time ago because he's had enough with his family's nonsense and decides to live a quite, peaceful life in Sydney, while his mother, Eleanor, stays in Singapore.

* MyBelovedSmother: Eleanor, [[spoiler: especially in the first book.]] Again, she wants the best for her son and only child, and will manipulate his life to achieve it.
** Bao Shaoyen, mother of Carlton, [[spoiler: Rachel's paternal half-brother,]] from the sequel.
* MysteriousParent: [[spoiler: Rachel's father is still alive.]]

** The reason why the Leongs [[spoiler: bought the Calthorpe hotel]], because the manager was being racist to Felicity and her family, by refusing them the suite they had reserved.
** Her daughter, Astrid, also experienced this, as revealed in a flashback that on a shopping trip with Charlie in Paris, she was treated badly by a clerk in a couture store due to being an Asian schoolgirl who didn't look very fashionable. That is, until Charlie made a call and she ended up buying ''twenty'' outfits from there, instead of just one like she originally wanted.

** [[spoiler: Rachel and Michael both end up inverting this trope by ending their relationships due to the affluence of their partners.]]

* [[ParentalMarriageVeto Parental Relationship Veto]]: Eleanor Young does not approve of her son dating or marrying the middle-class descendant of peasants. [[spoiler: Subverted when she realizes who Rachel's father is.]]

** [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in the sequel, while it is revealed that [[spoiler: Rachel's biological father is not only a top politician, but also a billionaire who owns a successful pharmaceutical company, and she just got married to the wealthy Nick.]] However, she still acts this way, especially with Colette's friends.
* PerfectPoison: Despite [[spoiler: drinking a poisoned tea]], Rachel did not notice anything was amiss until several hours later when [[spoiler: she started feeling sick and passed out.]]
* RavenHairIvorySkin: The ideal coloring for women in the world of the crazy rich Asians. In ine scene, Araminta recalls how Eleanor worried that she had become tan enough to [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain look Malay]].

* RebelliousPrincess: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] Astrid:

* TheReveal: The first hint that there would be a big reveal is in Part One, Chapter Thirteen. The actual reveal doesn't happen until Part ''Three'', Chapter Thirteen. [[spoiler: In the same moment, Rachel Chu learns her father is still alive, in prison for negligence leading to the very accident her mother claimed he died in, her mother kidnapped her, renamed her, and moved to the U.S. and her father's family put out a reward for her safe return, and her birth name is not Rachel Chu. She learns this from ''Eleanor'' of all people, who believed she knew and had been withholding the fact all along.]]
** In the second book, [[spoiler: Rachel's real father is a Chinese billionaire and she has a half-brother. Colette's assistant is the mastermind behind Rachel's poisoning, acting on her own, due to Colette worrying that Carlton may lose his money because of Rachel.]]
** In the third book, [[spoiler: Shang Su Yi doesn't control her family's fabled massive fortune after all (it's controlled by her brother, Alfred, as their father wanted only a son to inherit the fortune), but she can only ''use'' it, so she doesn't leave it in her will when she dies. She's also revealed to have an affair with a Thai prince that resulted a love child, Catherine Young.]]
** Also in the third book, [[spoiler: it turns out that Charlie's ex-wife, Isabel and Astrid's ex-husband, Michael, have been working together to destroy all chances for Astrid and Charlie to be together, including ruining Astrid's reputation.]]

** Not only is the fact that Rachel doesn't know Nick is absurdly wealthy one of the main plot points, the Youngs and Leongs "guard their privacy to the point of obsession," to the point where only the oldest of old money families reliably know who they are.

** In ''China Rich Girlfriend'', [[spoiler: Michael's entire sense of self-worth seems to have become based on his becoming a successful tech billionaire. He does not realize until later that this is thanks to his original start-up having been bought by Charlie Wu, Astrid's ex, for far more than it was worth.]]

** ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' is referenced in the first two books, to describe [[spoiler: Nick's]] house in the first book and to describe the lifestyle of Rachel's aunt in the second book.

** Many of Astrid's outfits are this: She always looks amazing, but not in a [[PimpedOutDress pimped-out]] way.
** Fiona buys a dress that Eddie thinks is too simple—until she is praised for it and he [[StealingTheCredit takes credit for getting it for her.]]
** In ''China Rich Girlfriend'', when Rachel shows [[spoiler: her engagement ring]] to her wealthy aunt, she isn't impressed due to being too simple and small, while Rachel likes it for its simplicity. Later revealed in the footnote, it is actually from JAR, the high-end French jeweler, and described as ''a flawless oval-cut diamond held in place by ribbons of white gold almost as thin as hairs, interwoven with tiny blue sapphires''.

** In ''China Rich Girlfriend'', after their breakup, it takes two years for [[spoiler: Rachel and Nick]] to repair their relationship after the events of the first book. Also [[spoiler: Nick]] is still not on good terms with their family after what happened between them in the first book.
* TangledFamilyTree: Many of the characters are related in some way. For example, Nick's father and Astrid's mother are brother and sister. Astrid's father and Colin's mother are also brother and sister, technically making Nick and Colin cousins-in-law. The author created a [[http://content.randomhouse.com/assets/9780385536981/view.php?id=cra001 simplified Young-T'sien-Shang family tree]] (albeit a somewhat confusing one.)
* TellMeAboutMyFather: [[spoiler: When Rachel learns the truth about her origins, through Eleanor's machinations, she later gets her mother to tell her about why she kidnapped Rachel and ran away with her and even why their last name is "Chu".]]

* TokenGoodTeammate: Carol Tai is a deconstructed example and even the most truly [[TokenReligiousTeammate religious one]] in her Bible Study group. While she does try her best to get her friends focused on the reading of the word of God (while the others prefer to gossip and talk about jewelry), for Eleanor to give Rachel a chance, to try to cut off their most judgmental and acid-tongued remarks, she doesn't really do much about it and is an ExtremeDoormat or even somewhat [[UselessBystanderSyndrome complicit indirectly]] because they talk over her, dismiss her concerns, don't listen to her, it's not so great on the family front as well as her husband is greedy and cheats on her while her son Bernard resents her lack of involvement in his childhood and she can barely discipline him.
* ToxicFriendInfluence: Eleanor's Bible Study group which consists of nosy, judgmental, gossipy, materialistic, shallow, self-centered, and shrill women whose meddling (or even lack of interaction and discipline in the case of Carol Tai) have led to most of them being estranged from their children, having their children turn out to be rotten people (Francesca and Bernard), not able to see their grandchildren, and even encouraging each other to commit extreme measures to intefere in their children's lives.

** Quite a few characters. Notable examples include Nick (and his father), Astrid, Colin, and Sophie, who all hail from extremely wealthy established families, but far from being snobs.

** Peik Lin, Rachel's very rich Singaporean best friend from Stanford, whose family's wealth is just as great her heart, as she always tries to buy her stuff, including expensive couture clothes for Colin and Araminta's wedding, and she, along with her family, also welcome her with open arms and let her stay in their mansion.
** Carlton and his father, Bao Gaoliang, a pharmaceutical billionaire and top politician, [[spoiler: who are definitely not too snobbish to let Rachel be part of their family, since it's revealed that Rachel is Bao's long lost daughter.]]

** The second book has Carlton, Colette (and her wealthy socialite friends), and Richie. Although, throughout the second book, [[spoiler: Carlton]] is shown to not have ''all'' the personality flaws common to characters who fit this trope.
* YouAreWhatYouHate: Harry Leong, whose family (and their wealth) originally comes from Malaysia, disowns his son, Alex, for marrying his wife, a Malaysian woman.

** In Crazy Rich Asians, Invoked by [[spoiler: Michael, when he fakes an affair on Astrid]] in order to make her leave him.
** Played straight in ''China Rich Girlfriend'', when [[spoiler: Michael becomes wealthy and [[TookALevelInJerkass subsequently a jerk.]]]]

* LonelyRichKid: Nick's childhood, where his mother intentionally left him alone with his grandmother so he can be deemed the "favorite". As an adult in the U.S., he intentionally hides his status from others around him, doesn't help that he also seems to be one of the few level-headed and kind members of his family.

** Played with in regards to Rachel and [[spoiler: Colette]]. While Rachel was willing to forgive [[spoiler: Colette for her alleged role with her assistant poisoning Rachel]], Nick isn't. But when [[spoiler: Colette]] begins to demean and insult Rachel, Rachel had enough and called her out.

* RealityEnsues:
** Nick's ItSeemedTrivial about his family's wealth and snobbery was the first blow to his and Rachel's relationship as Rachel was not prepared to deal with his family.
** In ''China Rich Girlfriend'', after their breakup, it takes two years for [[spoiler: Rachel and Nick]] to repair their relationship after the events of the first book.
*** Also [[spoiler: Nick]] is still not on good terms with their family after what happened between them in the first book.
** Despite [[spoiler: drinking a poisoned tea]], Rachel did not notice anything was amiss until several hours later when [[spoiler: she started feeling sick and passed out.]]
** [[spoiler: Colette]] makes a scene in a public area, shouting abuse at Rachel. Of course, [[spoiler: Colette]] being a high-profile fashion icon, this gets quickly videoed and put on the Internet. This results in the former losing their sponsors.

** Nick's generation expands this convention to include classic names from across Europe: Astrid (Scandinavian), Francesca (Spanish), Colette (French), etc.

** Eleanor inherits [[spoiler:[[StealthInsult a box of soap]],]] which makes her burst out laughing.

** Lai Di Bing, Colette's mother. She flies across the world seeing doctors because of this amd she can be seen sanitizing her hands right after shaking someone's hand.
** Colette uses this to trick her mom (who claims to have spinal phimosis) into going to Paris, in order to allow her and her friends to use her mom's plane to go on a shopping spree there, by claming that [[BlatantLies it has the world's best foot doctors.]]

** While Nick and Alistair inherit 10 percent of Tyersall Park each and Alexander inherits an estate in Malaysia, Eddie gets [[spoiler:[[TheUnfavorite only a pair of cuff links]].]]

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: All the Singaporean classics: Hainanese chicken rice, chili crab, satay, laksa, and dumplings, all washed down with Tiger Beer.

** Pan Tingting, Colette's celebrity best friend, dubbed as "the Jennifer Lawrence of China", is obviously based on the real-life Chinese superstar, Fan Bingbing.