American Went to China After College; Now He’s Back to Grow His Career

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Alex Greenberg, an American founder living in Chengdu, China, who runs Observed Media, a creative studio. He is also the creator of the Instagram account @shanghaiobserved. His words have been edited for length and clarity.

As graduation from college in Vermont approached, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I’d studied abroad in Australia during my junior year and knew I loved traveling, but I drew a blank on what to do next. Then, in November of my senior year, I received an offer to teach skateboarding in Shanghai.

It was my only job offer; I hadn’t applied to much else. Teaching skateboarding in China wasn’t exactly what I pictured doing with a college degree, but I figured it would make for an interesting gap year.

I arrived in January 2015 speaking zero Chinese. More than a decade later, China has shaped my career.

Shanghai felt like a place where anything could happen

Shanghai had become a magnet for street skaters, and most of my friends came through skateboarding and the video production world. It was one of the best social periods of my life.

I remember constantly thinking, “What am I doing? This is wild.” I’d chosen this completely unexpected life, and somehow it was working.

After my one-year contract ended, I expected to go home. But by then, I’d built a network and a life in Shanghai. Leaving didn’t make sense. I also had the safety net of teaching English. The US job market felt like a mystery to navigate, so I stayed.

Not knowing what I wanted to do became an asset

Career-wise, I was throwing everything at the wall. I started juggling English teaching and private skate lessons. At the same time, I started Shanghai Observed on Instagram as a daily photography project for fun. There wasn’t some grand business plan behind it; I was just walking around Shanghai and documenting the city.

In 2016, I got an internship at PUSH Media and eventually worked my way up to project manager. We produced campaigns and events for brands like Adidas, Vans, and The North Face.

Meanwhile, Shanghai Observed continued to grow alongside my career. Today, it has over 280,000 followers and gets millions of views a month, mostly from people outside China who are curious about everyday life. It’s never been my primary source of income; it’s always been more of a passion project.

But it opened a lot of doors.

A trip home unexpectedly turned into years away from China

I flew to the US for Christmas in December 2019 and planned to return after Chinese New Year. Then COVID hit, and I couldn’t get back.

I spent about 15 months living with my parents in New York. After that, I went to Kauai to work on a pineapple farm. I was only supposed to be there for three months. China still hadn’t reopened, so I stayed in Hawaii for two years.

I converted a school bus into a tiny home on a friend’s farm, worked as a drone pilot, and spent my free time surfing, playing poker and casual baseball games, and having dinner at friends’ houses.

Then, in 2023, I moved to San Diego for a remote brand manager role. I had built an entirely different life and career in the US, but China never really disappeared from either, and I continued running the Instagram account.

Moving back started making sense

By the end of my time in California, I was paying $2,400 a month in rent, including utilities, for a small one-bedroom place in Encinitas. I loved living near the ocean, but I started thinking about what the same money could buy me elsewhere. I realized I could base myself in China again, build my own media business, and have considerably more money left over to travel.

This September, I finally moved back — but instead of returning to Shanghai, I chose Chengdu, a major city in southwestern China. Despite not having lived there before, I had friends there, the creative scene seemed exciting, and it’s a much more affordable place to build my business and study Chinese.

Shanghai has more opportunity, but also more competition. Chengdu’s pace feels slower. The city prides itself on tea houses, long dinners, and relaxing. There’s a real emphasis on quality of life and comfort. Right now, I pay 3,000 Chinese yuan, or $420 a month, for a furnished studio on a month-to-month lease. A bowl of noodles costs around $2, and a coffee costs $1.50.

I’m running a creative studio on my own

I’m producing stories for brands and creators. Shanghai Observed was where I learned how to do it; Observed Media brings it all under one roof.

The thread connecting everything I’ve done — from skateboarding and sharing day-to-day life content in Shanghai to my days in California — has been paying attention to culture and turning it into stories people want to watch.

Shanghai Observed is still where I experiment. It’s a mix of my own photography and footage, submissions from followers, and content I discover through WeChat groups.

When I first moved to Shanghai at 22, I thought I was taking a one-year skateboarding job while I figured out what I wanted to do next. Instead, that spontaneous decision shaped my friendships, my career, the business I’m building, and the way I see the world.

More than a decade later, I’m 34 and back in China, starting another chapter. And, strangely enough, I have that same feeling I had when I first arrived: What am I doing? This is wild.

Only this time, I have a much better idea of what I’m doing here.