Great Leaps: Finding Home in a Changing China

by Colin Thomas Flahive

Overview

In Great Leaps, Colin Flahive explores China’s rural-urban migration against the backdrop of his own transition from Colorado to southwest China. There he partnered with three friends to open a café that became much more than simply an outpost of Western cuisine in a far-flung corner of the world. Over the course of a decade, Salvador’s Coffee House became home to more than 50 young women from mountain villages in the surrounding countryside. Most knew nothing about coffee or Western food, but they moved to the city to work at Salvador’s and earn their independence. Great Leaps follows the challenges faced by Colin, his partners and his employees as they leave their old lives behind to make a new home in a foreign land. They encounter unlikely successes, endure heartbreaks and nearly lose everything. But by taking the leap together, they all find their own places in the modern Chinese dream.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789887963806
Publisher:	Blacksmith Books
Publication date:	01/30/2020
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	344,292
Product dimensions:	5.61(w) x 8.53(h) x 0.45(d)

About the Author

American-born Colin Thomas Flahive has been living and traveling in China for more than 16 years. He currently lives with his wife in Kunming, where, in addition to writing, he runs multiple businesses and social enterprises.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Pronunciation Guide
Chapter 1 From the Countryside
Chapter 2 Sharks and Margaritas
Chapter 3 China’s Dammed
Chapter 4 Moving East
Chapter 5 A New Home
Chapter 6 Down to Business
Chapter 7 A New Partnership
Chapter 8 To Kill a Roach
Chapter 9 Traveling Circus
Chapter 10 Ice Cream Diplomacy
Chapter 11 Raising Ducks
Chapter 12 The Republic of Salvador’s
Chapter 13 Wind at Our Backs
Chapter 14 An Unexpected Guest
Chapter 15 Damage Control
Chapter 16 Blade to the Chicken’s Throat
Chapter 17 Haunted by Ghosts
Chapter 18 Country Lessons
Chapter 19 American Dreams
Chapter 20 A New Direction
Chapter 21 Joining and Departing
Chapter 22 Scene of the Crime
Chapter 23 The Art of Baking Bread
Chapter 24 Dirt Dumplings
Chapter 25 Uprooted
Chapter 26 Taking a Leap

Editorial Reviews

Having spent over 40 years in the China field as an academic and administrator running educational programs, I found Colin Flahive's story to be the most rewarding, heartfelt, informative and worthwhile of almost all the books I have ever read about China. He delves into the heart and soul of the countryside as it is forced into transitioning into a "modern", urban world and how this transition affects the lives of the rural people.
Colin is not a Western observer as are most China writers but actually lives the China life that he writes about, often gut-wrenching but always uplifting. It is a spellbinding adventure story and about as fine a read as I have had in a long time. Kudos to Colin for all his hard-fought accomplishments to improve the lives of Yunnan village people, especially the young women. His is an extraordinary life and thus the book is also an extraordinary literary sojourn.

Alice Renouf