A biography for Kevin Kwanhasn’t been written yet.
“My father grew up in a life of extreme privilege.”
“I was born in Singapore, and I lived there until I was 12. I had a very fortunate upbringing.”
“Canada has become such a staging area for Chinese money.”
“Every family is a crazy family.”
“Couture occupies the uppermost stratosphere of fashion. It is the holy of holies, as only about 2,000 women globally are fortunate enough to wear these precious garments tailored to their exact measurements, making it perhaps the most exclusive club in the world.”
“I think, at least for me, I'm so impressed by Shanghai and how all of China continues to evolve. On a style level, you're seeing this increased sophistication and brand awareness.”
“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.”
“People are often disappointed when they meet me because I'm not this giant, flamboyant - you know, I don't wear sequined jackets.”
“They say truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, but there's such a thing as believability when you're writing a novel.”
“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.”
“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 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.”
“To me, families are fascinating. I choose to explore it through comedy and through comic situations.”
“When my first novel, 'Crazy Rich Asians,' was published in 2013, many readers were astonished to learn that in Asia, there were women who dressed in couture from morning till night.”
“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.”
“If you're the water boiler king of China, you're selling a billion water boilers.”
“I'm not sure if being Chinese really helped, but I do think that if a non-Asian had written a book called 'Crazy Rich Asians,' they might not have been looked upon so kindly.”
“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.”
“No matter our background, we all have crazy families.”
“My grandparents were far more English in their manners than they were Chinese. For example, we spoke English at home, had afternoon tea every day, and my grandfather, who attended university in Scotland, would smoke his pipe after dinner.”