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They all find their own places in the modern Chinese dream Great Leaps Finding Home in a Changing ChinaI enjoyed finding out about the cafe we visited the Kunming site when we visited our daughter who lives nearby Great Leaps Finding Home in a Changing China A great leap forward has for a sinologist a negative connotation The Great Leap Forward caused severe famine and cost 30 55 million Chinese their lives Anthropologist turned social entrepreneur Colin Flahive refers though to a completely different leap despite having written this enticing account about urbanizing China from my favorite Chinese province.
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They are above all gateways to freedom This phenomenon can only be understood when one applies a longitudinal perspective China was in many ways until the 1980s stuck in a sort of European middle ages The delayed onset of the scientific and industrial revolution meant that up till 2011 than half of the population lived in the countryside as farmers while less than two percent of the labor force in industrialized nations works in agriculture The city has therefore a similar value like it had centuries ago in Europe Kunming has given them the opportunity to look beyond their fate on the farm It took coming to China for me to learn that cities are than just consequences of growth They are places where people can shed their rural shackles to become something p172 School is the one place in the countryside where kids really get a chance to be kids p142 It takes Flahive a while to understand in the narrative of his book why his employees want to trade a life which he seeks.
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In Great Leaps Colin Thomas 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 caf that became much 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 than fifty 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 Yunnan Colin writes about a leap into an adventure into a different playbook than the one written based on your pedigree education or family s wealth. Great leapsz zza Flahive quotes Henry David Thoreau the great American essayist and transcendental philosopher who is best known for Walden a life in the woods and Civil Disobedience We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal and then leap in the dark to our success Flahive his friends and employees all made such leaps and were rewarded with exciting lives which were all anchored at Salvador s Coffee House They left their old lives behind to make a new home in a foreign land and found their place in the modern Chinese dream. Great Leaps ebook3000 I met the author last summer in Salvador s Coffee House during my probably last journey to Southwest China where he gave me his beautifully Klimt like ornamented book as a present We both arrived at a similar time about 20 years ago in China and we both ended up in Kunming he permanently though We both got married to truly interesting Chinese countryside girls and we both try to improve people s livelihoods with our work There is a lot we share above all I guess our side job as wordsmiths Flahive presents a blend between memoir and an applied anthropological study on cause and effect of urbanization China s urban migration now the largest in the history of the world is fueled by the idea that regardless of birthplace or social class cities offer everyone a chance at success It s an idea tantamount to that of the American Dream that people can start with nothing but succeed through hard work alone Some might argue that in today s global climate the American Dream is dead but for hundreds of million in China a similar dream is alive While Flahive moved 2004 from Dali to Kunming I moved 2003 from Kunming to Shanghai where my then not yet wife studied then back to Europe and 2009 back to Shanghai Shanghai is to me probably what Kunming is to Flahive the city where I have spent so far most years of my adult life it is my second home When I describe Shanghai to non residents I compare it to New York of the 1970s it s the world s epicenter the Dragonhead of the world s largest single market the cutting edge of commercial and to some extent also social innovation It s the place where ambitious young people go in search of their dreams The American Dream is indeed dead We now all live our dreams against a Chinese backdrop When outsiders hear about urban China they hear about pollution overpopulation heavy traffic mass consumerism and a blind rush toward modernization Though all of those characterizations are often what people experience when they come to China many millions of rural Chinese think of China s cities in a very different context For them cities are the gateways to the modern world p169 Flahive explains through the stories of his employees why they prefer long working hours in Chinese cities to staying in often picturesque villages Cities are not only gateways to modernity to one he wants to give up For me China s countryside represented the kind of lifestyle I d always idealized It was a place where there were no concerns about traffic and pollution where people s lives revolved around agriculture and family The girls had come to Kunming for exactely opposite reasons For them it was the city that they sought a lifestyle that I had left behind while I sought a lifestyle that they left behind p130 An explanation can be found in human development psychology and our species much underrated learning instinct which I described in an essay on cities and their evolutionary value as learning spaces But that s another story This one is about why we need to take great leaps if we want to find a fulfilling life Flahive showed us how to do it Great Leaps Finding Home in a Changing China This book is about a restaurant called Salvador s in Kunming Yunnan China It s a western styled restaurant almost oddly out of place among authentic China Having dined at Salv s and actually purchased the book at their bar I had no idea how much history and social justice there was behind the place Colin s story is captivating heart tugging and inspirational You won t want to put it down Great Leaps Finding Home in a Changing China I got this book from the author himself when we met at one event in Kunming China I knew who Colin was An owner of a cafe called Salvador s which is very popular in Kunming s foreign community I ve been to this restaurant many times I loved the food and the atmosphere I was also aware that this place had been one of the first western cafes in town But only when I started reading Great Leaps I learnt that Salvador s is a truly special and unique business It s much than just a restaurant with good western food In this memoir Colin tells how it all began what pitfalls he and his partners also foreigners encountered while opening business in China how they made their restaurant thrive and how different it is from other businesses The author also reveals all the ups and downs of doing business with friends describes in a very captivating emotional way his deep affection for Chinese countryside he calls it China s heart and its people tells about the projects he and his friends initiated to develop some Yunnan villages generously shares his heartbreaking experience of loss and gain There s a very touching heartmelting love story there as well. Great leaps digital I savored every single chapter of this beautifully woven book And now when I go to Salvador s see Colin chat with him for a while smile to the girls who work there I feel completely different and I know exactly why this place is so special and how much Colin and his partners have done not just to make their business successful but also to help their workers reach their full potential and prosper together as one big happy family. Book Great leaps options Absolutely recommend this book to those who like fascinating life stories lived and told by fascinating people Great Leaps Finding Home in a Changing China Colin recorded an extraordinary life in the exotic and idyllic southern Chinese province of Yunnan coloured with entrepreneurship that is fair and empowering and non profit work that is respectful to and inclusive of the local population In terms of criticism I feel the book could have had farther reach and greater relevance if it incorporated research and historical context similar to that of Wild Swans by Jung Chang For what it is it serves as a foreigner s guide to starting a business in China Great Leaps Finding Home in a Changing China
| Great Leaps: Finding Home in a Changing China By Colin Flahive |
| English |
| 183 |
| Kindle Edition |
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