I bought a one-way ticket to Shanghai, thinking I'd stay for a year. 12 years later, it feels like home.

Graeme Kennedy knew he didn't want to stay in Canada but never expected to spend the next decade in China. Provided by Graeme Kennedy Graeme Kennedy left a small town in Canada for Shanghai, expecting to stay one year. He quit marketing, built a photography business, and now documents food and culture. Now, he's lived in Shanghai for 12 years and says it's where he feels most at home. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Graeme Kennedy, a Canadian photographer based in Shanghai. His words have been edited for length and clarity. I grew up in a small town in the Canadian Rockies in the kind of place where you help your neighbor shovel snow off their sidewalk just because. My childhood was spent climbing trees, biking, and skiing. Sadly, the nature that drew in tourists year-round was lost on me.