Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians trilogy begins with the international bestseller Crazy Rich Asians published in 2013, followed by China Rich Girlfriend in 2015, and concluding with Rich People Problems in 2017. The books were widely enjoyed for their gossipy, soapy, satirical look at the lives of the super-rich of Southeast Asia, exposing eccentric habits and skewering social pretensions while introducing non-Asian audiences to the modern profile and recent history of Singapore, Hong Kong, and China. The books peek into the economic, cultural, and social scene of the jet-setting crowd, but also portray the rivalries, attitudes, and prejudices of its different social sets, reflecting the multi-culturalism, accelerating development, and history of colonial rule in these areas.

The SuperSummary guide to Crazy Rich Asians provides a complete summary and analysis of that book, so this background will highlight only those elements that come to bear on China Rich Girlfriend. In the prologue of Crazy Rich Asians, Felicity Leong buys the British hotel where the white British manager refuses to accept her and Eleanor and their children. This one-upmanship demonstrates the family’s economic power, introduces the class tensions that play a part throughout the trilogy, and touch on the prevailing themes of Western discrimination against and poor understanding of Asian peoples, which by turns provide conflict and humor.