Epigraphs are like little appetizers to the great main dish of a story. They illuminate important aspects of the story, and they get us headed in the right direction.
Part One Epigraph
Nowhere in the world are there to be found people richer than the Chinese. –Ibn Batuta (Fourteenth Century)
Ibn Batuta was a Moroccan Muslim visiting China in the 1340s. Yeah, they were rich back then, too. The wealth of the Chinese during the Yuan Dynasty was tangible to an outsider. Or perhaps he meant rich of heart and spirits, overflowing with the wealth of hospitality and kindness. He encountered both on his travelers, so either is likely!
In any case, Part One gives us a taste of the wealth of the Singaporean families documented in the novel, as well as the closeness of relationships and hospitality afforded to visitors.
Part Two Epigraph
I did not tell half of what I saw, for no one would have believed me. – Marco Polo, 1324
Marco Polo was also known as Marco Milione (the man of a million lies) for all the stories he told of China when he returned to Italy. China was unknown to the west, so the stories of silk and money and animals and fireworks that he brought back to Europe were so absurd they had to be lies, right?
The same certainly applies to Part Two of this novel: the wealth that is seen and the secrets that are kept are more than anyone would actually ever believe.
Part Three Epigraph
Let China sleep, for when she awakens she will shake the world. – Napoleon Bonaparte
While this was supposedly said by Napoleon during his exile in the 1800s, it has never actually been attributed to a specific source. It has been quoted time and time again, particularly through the mid- and late-1900s as China started to crawl out of its Mao + Communism = Love phase. Westerners have always been intrigued and terrified of China, for its longevity and resilience, but more and more, its growing economy and wealth.
Why this epigraph for Part Three? The women of Singapore are a force to be reckoned with, that's for sure. Bringing Rachel home woke up the China in Nick's mother and grandmother. Equally forceful, though, is the China in Rachel. She just might be the one who really shakes the world.