At that drunken K11 night in Hong Kong late last year, Eva Chow relaxed her arm around the shoulders of party host Cheng Chi-gang, who seemed to be a very low-key presence among stars, rich and celebrities.
But in the circle of celebrities on the other side of the ocean, she is one of the most influential women.
Who is the top "hostess" in Los Angeles?
Although ordinary people do not recognize her as well as Li Zaiyong's ex-wife Lin Shiling, who was present at the same time, she is a popular figure in the upper class social circle in the United States.
The New York Times called her "the queen of art in Los Angeles," and the Hollywood Daily considered her and her ex-husband "the coolest couple in the world," despite the media's emphasis on capturing different sides of Ava's profile, both recognized her as one of the most influential celebrities in the Los Angeles area. Even Los Angeles celebrities who hate her agree: she is the city's "top hostess."
But to own Los Angeles, influence also needs to expand steadily from party to party. In 2014, she threw a "top party" in her luxurious home, attended by celebrities such as Ye and then-President Barack Obama; At the same time, the LACMA Art+Film she led became the most famous social event in the Los Angeles area.
The first step in connecting with the upper class always starts with money. Initially, the party was a fundraiser to encourage the art and film industry, but the star-studded standards and luxury specifications made it a hit: since the first edition, Ava and Leonardo DiCaprio co-hosted, nearly $100,000 a table of dinner labels and tens of thousands of dollars a ticket made it difficult to keep a low profile.
After several consecutive editions, LACMA Art+Film has become an influential party in the industry, celebrities are proud to be invited, and Ava Chow herself has become a cultural leader across the fashion industry, art festivals and film.
Being Korean has made her more comfortable in the Korean celebrity world. Korean celebrities are proud to associate with her, and the show business is especially happy to post photos with her to show that they have entered the "top of the pyramid" social circle.
Ava Zhou also has a good relationship with the people of her hometown, "Squid Game" starring Lee Jung-jae, singer Kwon Ji Ryong, the most popular BTS in recent years, Blackpink... They all have a good personal relationship with her. After she founded the soju brand KHEE, these Hallyu stars also took the initiative to give face, of course, in order to show favor to this celebrity who "rushed out of Asia".
To become a European and American celebrity, you can't just do catering
Ava Chow's success is undoubted, but this name has gradually become known since marrying the "Chinese God of Food" Zhou Yinghua.
When she was still studying, she established her own fashion brand under her real name "Eva Chun", and because of her own efforts, she finally met Zhou Yinghua, who also likes art and fashion.
Zhou Yinghua comes from a prominent background, his father is Peking Opera master Zhou Xinfang, the founder of the "Qi School" Peking Opera, his mother is Qiu Lilin, the third young lady of Shanghai Qiu Tianbao Silver Building, and his sister is actor Zhou Caiqin. Mr Chow, a high-end Chinese restaurant he founded in the UK, is a no-brainer in Hong Kong, an Italian serving of Hong Kong's leading chefs and carefully selected paintings to attract the art world.
Zhou's family: third from left to fifth from left: Zhou Yinghua, Zhou Xinfang, and Zhou Caiqin
The good taste attracted many celebrity regulars, the restaurant also made a name for itself, and later expanded to the United States. Zhou Yinghua and his restaurant gradually became the face of noble taste, as early as the 80s, American Express credit card print advertisements appeared on his restaurant "Mr Chow". Ava herself never thought that she would fall in love with Zhou Yinghua, after all, before the two met, she was a student who had to think about going to Mr Chow's restaurant for a few days.
In the eighties of last century, Zhou Yinghua and his second wife Zhou Tianna
Zhou Yinghua's previous marriages also became a boost for Zhou's squeeze into European and American high society: his first wife, Grace Gorddington, was a supermodel and legendary fashion editor, and it was with her help that the restaurant successfully started; His second wife, Zhou Tianna, is an international supermodel.
Ava Chow's father is a banker who belongs to the "golden spoon" class in South Korea, but he obviously does not see enough in the United States, so after the two Asians met, they began to join forces.
After marrying Zhou Yinghua, Ava, who showed her good management ability before marriage, closed her personal brand, concentrated on assisting her husband's career, danced with long sleeves, actively expanded contacts and channels, and became a well-known Asian celebrity in European and American celebrity circles with amazing social skills.
Unlike the naked flaunting of wealth in the reality show "Brilliant Empire", the Zhou couple have considerable achievements in art. Chow's extraordinary family background gave Chow a talent for art, and in addition to being a restaurant operator, he was also a discerning collector, and his collection of Andy Warhol paintings in his early years was later sold for hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars.
The couple's mansion became the base for their banquet guests (above), modeled after Madrid's Reina Sophia National Art Centre Museum, and visitors will always marvel at every detail.
The mansion is indeed more like a museum, housing the couple's world-class art collection worth more than $50 million. The land surrounding the mansion is surrounded by trees, away from the prying eyes of good deeds.
However, the two parted ways after maintaining a 26-year marriage, and after divorcing in 2017, Ava got the mansion she built with her own hands, and put it on second-hand websites without any nostalgia, and in 2020, Ava sold her penthouse in Brooklyn, New York, for $6 million.
How sad is it for Asian-rich people to break into the United States?
After squeezing into the top floor, looking back at those efforts and achievements will remind people of their past. Even at the highest echelons of American power and culture, Zhou Yinghua still positions himself as a "refugee."
He wears a pair of glasses all year round because he wants to create an iconic image that others can remember.
Interestingly, Zhou Yinghua himself has always had a Chinese complex in his heart: the daughter born to the second Japanese-American mixed wife was named Zhou Jiana (China) by Zhou Yinghua, and the daughter of Ava Zhou was named Aisha Zhou Jun (Asia Asia), but there was no place in Japan (Japan) and Korea (South Korea).
Not only Zhou Yinghua, an Asian immigrant has such a dilemma. In recent years, Hollywood has had many film and variety shows depicting wealthy Asians. "Crazy Rich Asians" reflects how "trench" Asian-rich are; The reality show "Brilliant Empire" that filmed the lives of Asian-rich people describes how "crazy" Asian-rich are: these glamorous Asian-rich people can do whatever it takes to live a luxurious life, but they will show off their old Chinese family in the United States, for example, a noblewoman Christine shows off that her doctor husband is a descendant of the Song Dynasty Zhao.
But even among the nobles, there is bitterness behind the rich Asians in the United States. As new immigrants, even if they have money, it is difficult for them to integrate into Europe and the United States like the Zhou family, and they do not want to interact with other classes, so they can only interact in narrow social circles.
Asians, on the other hand, are also the group with the largest income disparity in the United States: the income inequality index for Asian-Americans nearly doubled from 1970 to 2016.
Compared with ordinary immigrants, Asian-rich people with prominent identities and have always been looked at differently have a more obvious sense of disparity in the treatment of others after becoming immigrants, and they also want to be recognized by others, just like the former "Killing Matt" generation, is to use exaggerated hairstyles not to be bullied by "city people", behind the glamorous Asian rich immigrants, they do not want to be discriminated against by the surroundings.
It sounds sad, but these little tangles will not affect the rich people from enjoying life. Zhou Yinghua "fell in love at first sight" with his fourth wife two years after the divorce, saying that she gave him a "feeling of love" again, and grew old, giving birth to a young son with his fourth wife at the age of 80, and adding a daughter a year later.
As said in the Korean movie "Parasite", money is an iron, which can iron out all the folds of life, whether it is birth restrictions or class restrictions.
Reference source:
NYTimes：Eva Chow, the Culture Queen of Los Angeles
PageSix：Ex-wife of Mr. Chow lists Brooklyn penthouse for over $6M
Fashion Designer Eva Chow’s Art-Filled Estate Hits The Market For $65 Million
Written by: TT, Jonas
Edited by Sebastian