Rachel is blown away by how friendly and down-to-earth Peik Lin's family are. The next day, Goh Peik Lin, her best friend from their time at Stanford, takes her to visit her home. Upon arriving in Singapore, she meets Nick's friends, Colin Khoo and Araminta Lee who take her out to a local Singaporean food court.
Rachel in fact knows nothing about her boyfriend's family, and is completely unaware of what is in store for her. The novel begins with her boyfriend Nick inviting her to meet his family in Singapore. They were first introduced by Rachel's good friend and colleague Sylvia Wong-Swartz. After graduating, she became an economics professor at New York University, where she met and began dating history professor Nicholas Young, whom unbeknownst to her was a member of the wealthy and influential Shang-Young clan of Singapore. Rachel attended Stanford University, where she met her best friend, Singaporean socialite Goh Peik Lin. Rachel was then raised by Kerry as a single mother working as a real estate agent in Cupertino, California, never knowing the identity of her father. Due to the power and influence of her husband's family, Kerry was unable to easily leave the relationship, but was eventually able to flee China with the baby Rachel, settling in California with her own relatives. Due to the one child policy, they planned to blind Rachel in one eye to fake a disability, which would then allow Kerry to have another child, which they hoped would be male. Her in-laws were upset that the child born was a girl. Rachel was born out of her affair with Gaoling (Kao Wei), unbeknownst to her parents-in-law, who believed the child to be their own son's. Through her father, Bao Gaoling, Rachel also has a half-brother, Carlton Bao.Īt the time of her birth, Rachel's mother Kerry was in an abusive relationship, married to another man.
Rachel was born in Xiamen, China as the lovechild of Kerry Chu (Ching) and Bao Gaoling, whom Kerry knew as Kao Wei and would later go on to become a prominent Chinese politician. She is also described as being naturally pretty, but in a very simple way. Rachel Chu is described as having a nut-brown tan, medium length, jet-black hair, and a flat chest, and a nose a little round.
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