Shang Su Yi

Shang Su Yi (1919-2015) was the matriarch of the Young family, mostly known by her relatives as Ah Ma. She was one of the main characters in the Crazy Rich Asians series by Kevin Kwan.

Background
She was born the daughter of Shang Loong Ma, an extremely wealthy businessman, and his main wife. Su Yi had multiple siblings, but only Alfred Shang is named and appears in the books. She was the owner of the largest single piece of private real estate in Singapore, Tyersall Park, where she lived for most of her life.

Early life
Shang Su Yi was born in 1918 or 1919 in Singapore. When World War II broke out, she escaped to Thailand, where she met and fell in love with a member of the Thai Royal family, Prince Jisarit.

Marriage to James Young
Su Yi's father forced her to marry James Young, a doctor, against her will. She heavily resisted the marriage and treated her husband coldly during the first years of her marriage, even starting an affair with her earlier lover, Prince Jisarit. The affair ended with a pregnancy, which forced Su Yi to face her husband, who, contrary to her expectations, forgave her and promised to accept the child as his own. From this point, Su Yi fell deeply and truly in love with her husband.

Novel
Su Yi first meets her grandson Nick Young and his girlfriend Rachel at a banquet she hosted at her estate, Tyersall Park. Despite warnings from her relatives, she does not initially believe that the relationship was serious, claiming that her grandson would not do anything without her consent.

When Nick informs his mother Eleanor Young of his plans to marry Rachel, she panics and immediately goes to Su Yi to prevent the marriage from happening. When Su Yi confronted her grandson, he insults her and insists on going on with the marriage, leading to a deep rift between him and the stunned Su Yi, which does not heal until the end of the series.

Film
Initially in the movie, she had been friendly towards Rachel until Eleanor shows her the files she collected about how Rachel has lied about her family past.

Rich People Problems
Su Yi suffers a heart attack and remains bedridden for most of the novel, with her family members all returning to Singapore to visit her, hoping to receive her massive fortune after her passing.

After her passing, her will was presented by her lawyer Freddie Tan to the family. Su Yi's possessions were split up among family members with most of her fortune bequeathed to her longtime staff.

Unexpectedly, her estate Tyersall Park was split up in different shares to her descendants. It was also revealed by her brother, Alfred Shang, that she was never given any share of Shang Enterprises because their father was extremely old fashioned. All of her living expenses were paid for by a Trust fund. As a result, she never had income nor any holdings, never having the massive fortune her family thought she had.