Sichuan University
In August 2019, Hessler and his family moved to Chengdu in southwest China. Hessler taught non-fiction writing at Sichuan University - Pittsburgh Institute. During his time in Chengdu, Hessler wrote several pieces about how China handled the COVID-19 pandemic for "The New Yorker". Because Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute declined to renew his teaching contract, he moved back to Colorado at the end of the first semester of 2021 with his family.