"Yaya took nothing with her but a warm jacket, a toothbrush and a washcloth all bundled together in a tattered white shopping bag. It was the first time that she’d ever left her village and she looked nervous and afraid as she hiked down the dirt trail away from the only home she’d ever known." InGreat 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 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 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, they all find their own places in the modern Chinese dream.