Zhang Xuefeng, the Runner: The Abrupt End of a Mentor from a Humble Background

Image source: WeChat official account "Workplace Bonus" (ID: ZhiChangHongLi)

On March 22nd, Zhang Xuefeng posted a dynamic on the social platform. His marathon entry quota was cancelled by the organizing committee.

This piece of news was buried in his daily high - frequency updates and didn't attract much attention. Fans habitually joked in the comment section, and Zhang Xuefeng himself didn't take it seriously. The next day, he posted another running check - in record of 7 kilometers with a stable pace.

No one realized that this was a warning from fate.

The event organizing committee later responded that the cancellation of the quota was carried out according to the unified rules: The physical examination report submitted by Zhang Xuefeng did not meet the health standards for the competition. Professional institutions had discovered potential risks in his physical condition from those data. But Zhang Xuefeng didn't stop.

Two days later, at 12:26 noon on March 24th, he felt unwell after running on the treadmill in the company. Employees saw him lying on the stretcher, wearing running shorts and a short - sleeved shirt, all sweaty and his clothes soaked. That was the last time they saw him.

At 3:50 p.m., Dushu Lake Hospital Affiliated to Soochow University announced that the rescue was ineffective. The hospital used the best means, and the deputy dean personally participated in the rescue. The cause of death was diagnosed as sudden cardiac death.

Zhang Xuefeng, whose real name is Zhang Zibiao, passed away at the age of 41.

Five days later, at the Suzhou Funeral Home. At 4 a.m., when it was still dark, there were already people queuing at the entrance of the funeral home. They held yellow and white flower bouquets in their hands, bidding farewell to Zhang Xuefeng in the early spring of the Jiangnan region.

More and more people joined the queue, and the end of the queue was out of sight. Employees from the dumpling restaurant also came - it was the dumpling restaurant that Zhang Xuefeng often visited, and the boss changed the profile picture on Dianping to black and white.

Zhang Xuefeng had many fans, perhaps 30 million, 50 million, or even more. But these were just numbers. It wasn't until these numbers became individual figures before the dawn of the early spring that people realized the weight of these numbers.

Why was it Zhang Xuefeng? A postgraduate entrance examination teacher who became popular by telling jokes, a controversial internet celebrity tutor, and a businessman who turned college entrance examination volunteer filling into a business worth hundreds of millions. Why could his death make so many people queue up to say goodbye?

The answer may lie in the path he walked in 41 years - from a poor teenager in a small Northeast county, to an "ant tribe" in a Beijing urban village, and then to a top - stream figure giving advice in the live - streaming room. He helped millions of families fill out college entrance examination volunteers but couldn't outrun his own body.
 

Discovering the Information Black Hole ╱ 01

Dormancy: The Beginning of Overdraft ╱ 02

Soaring Upward, 1 Billion Views ╱ 03

Capital Layout and Creed ╱ 04

Moat and Crisis ╱ 05

Only Funding Freshmen ╱ 06

Aftermath ╱ 07

Epilogue ╱ 08

Discovering the Information Black Hole

On May 18th, 1984, Zhang Xuefeng was born in Fuyu County, Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province. This is a typical small Northeast county, with a name carrying the beautiful expectations of that era, but Zhang Xuefeng's family had nothing to do with the word "affluent".

His father was a railway worker, and his mother worked in a state - owned enterprise. Later, his mother was laid off, and the family's monthly income was only 600 yuan. The family lived next to the railway station. In Zhang Xuefeng's childhood memories, there were the roars of trains, people stealing coal by the railway tracks, and his parents' struggles for a living.

Zhang Xuefeng later mentioned in an interview that when others said their families were poor, they meant being extremely poor, while his family was "not even making a sound". This sentence became the footnote of his childhood.

His parents' requirements for him were simple and harsh: He must be among the top three in the class in every exam. For each rank below the top three, he would get a slap. He remembered most clearly that once he ranked 29th in the class, and his father didn't show mercy. This almost strict educational method was repeatedly mentioned by Zhang Xuefeng in later years. He said that he knew from an early age that only through the college entrance examination could he possibly change his fate.

During the high - school entrance examination, he was admitted to a key high school with the 16th place in the county. But during his three years in high school, he took a detour. Puppy love made his grades plummet, and he once dropped to the 355th place in the grade. The class teacher asserted that he "could at most get into a vocational college". His father scolded him severely again, and he suddenly woke up. He studied hard for half a year and finally ranked 60th in the county in the college entrance examination and was admitted to Zhengzhou University.

His major was adjusted: Water Supply and Drainage Engineering. His parents once thought it was "digging sewers". Zhang Xuefeng himself wasn't very clear about what this major was for, but he knew that from Fuyu County to Zhengzhou, he had taken a big step forward.

During his college years, like many young people, Zhang Xuefeng was full of confusion and enthusiasm about the future. He spent all day on campus activities and host competitions and won the Golden Microphone Award with his good eloquence. He once dreamed of being a host, but during a host competition, someone glanced at the brand of his suit. He understood the contempt in that look and realized that he "didn't deserve" this dream.

"I've lost my idealism." He later said in an interview.

Since his sophomore year, he had been thinking about various campus entrepreneurship projects: selling pirated books and being an automobile sales agent. In his senior year, he helped his roommate search for postgraduate entrance examination materials and found that there was a market in this area. The dense enrollment numbers, admission cut - off scores, and professional advantages were an information black hole for many students. Zhang Xuefeng keenly realized that whoever could organize and explain this information clearly could find a place in this market.

In 2007, he graduated from Zhengzhou University. With 2,000 yuan in cash and a simple suitcase, he squeezed onto the train and became a Beijinger drifting in the capital.

Dormancy: The Beginning of Overdraft

In 2007, Beijing was on the eve of the Olympics. To welcome the world's attention, the whole city was expanding and growing at an unprecedented speed. Introduced by a friend, Zhang Xuefeng joined Beijing Haitian Postgraduate Entrance Examination Training Institution and started with the most basic course consultation work. His monthly salary was 2,500 yuan, and there was no social insurance or housing fund.

He lived in Liulangzhuang Village, Haidian District, Beijing. This is a typical "ant tribe" gathering place - in a village of more than 50,000 people, nearly 40,000 were migrant workers. They were like ants, living in the outskirts of the city, struggling for their dreams but seeing no hope of getting ahead.

Zhang Xuefeng's room was extremely small, only able to barely fit a single bed. There was only a dim yellow light bulb and an old creaking electric fan in the room. There was no independent bathroom, and more than a dozen families shared a kitchen. Every morning, people queued up to get water and use the outdoor public toilet.

He was reluctant to eat well. His daily meals were simple boxed lunches and street - side snacks. Only when he made obvious progress would he be willing to spend 10 yuan on a late - night snack and reward himself with 50 - cent skewers.

His initial work was to distribute leaflets, answer consultation calls, and mobilize students for the postgraduate entrance examination. At that time, the common routine of postgraduate entrance examination training institutions was to "inspire students" - talk about the significance of the postgraduate entrance examination, the importance of academic qualifications, and the desire to change fate. Zhang Xuefeng was good at this. He had excellent eloquence and could make the boring speeches vivid and interesting.

But an experience in 2008 changed him. At a university in Dalian, he passionately talked about the significance of the postgraduate entrance examination for 20 minutes. A student in the audience directly raised his hand and said, "Teacher, can you talk about something useful for the postgraduate entrance examination?" This sentence made him suddenly realize that students didn't need empty chicken - soup words. They needed real information: which schools were easier to get into, which majors had prospects, and which tutors were worth following. From that day on, he began to focus on the content.

In the first three months, he almost lived in the office and only slept 4 hours a day. He collected and organized information on more than 800 postgraduate - recruiting institutions across the country: enrollment numbers, application data, admission cut - off scores, professional advantages, and employment situations. He organized all of them into a well - structured table.

He used his Northeast sense of humor to turn the boring college knowledge into a joke - style explanation. Like a stand - up comedian, he kept giving trial lectures, reviewing, and modifying. From 2007 to 2010, he worked in several postgraduate entrance examination institutions such as Haitian and Wendu, and gave lectures in second - tier and third - tier colleges and universities across the country.

At that time, he had no traffic or attention. Sometimes, only a few students attended his lectures, but he still finished them seriously. He stayed in the cheapest small hotels, ate the cheapest fast food, and was on the go all year round.

In 2010, the company he worked for went bankrupt. Unwilling to work for a competing institution, he gritted his teeth and started his own business. He became a minority shareholder and founded a postgraduate entrance examination tutoring institution with several partners. In the early stage of the business, there was no capital, no reputation, and no students. He held multiple positions simultaneously: lecturer, salesperson, operator, and customer service.

"I slept very little every day and was too tired to talk." In those years, he frequently recorded his life on Weibo. "If a child from a poor family wants to live a so - called good life, they have to bear this kind of pressure."

From 2008 to 2016, he traveled to 29 provinces across the country and held more than 4,000 lectures. Many times, he had to rush to two or three cities in a day, and even ate and slept on the way. There were no weekends or holidays. When others were resting, he was either preparing lessons or on a business trip to give lectures.

This experience was later summarized by him as the "dormancy period" - but the long - term high - intensity work was more like an overdraft than dormancy. Later, he had to take melatonin to fall asleep. "Take the medicine, go to sleep, and I'll be a hero again tomorrow."

Soaring Upward, 1 Billion Views

In June 2016, Zhang Xuefeng recorded a video for branch schools across the country: "Interpretation of 34 '985' Universities in Seven Minutes". After this video was uploaded to the Internet, its views exceeded 10 million within 48 hours. According to public data, after it spread wildly on various platforms, the total views exceeded 1 billion.

Zhang Xuefeng became an instant internet sensation overnight.

He spoke with a highly recognizable Northeast accent, at a very fast speed and with dense information. Like a stand - up comedian, he transformed the boring college rankings and professional differences into a performance full of dramatic tension. "Harbin Institute of Technology is the best, Harbin Engineering University is the second, and Harbin University of Science and Technology is nothing!" - This sentence earned him his first lawyer's letter in life and also made him a phenomenon - level internet celebrity.

The school authorities of Harbin University of Science and Technology were strongly dissatisfied and sent a lawyer's letter. Zhang Xuefeng publicly apologized. But one of the most - liked comments was: "He's telling the truth."

After his sudden popularity, Zhang Xuefeng's commercial value was quickly realized. The quotation for video advertisements started at 250,000 yuan, and the quotation for offline live - streaming was 400,000 yuan per hour. In September 2016, he published "You're Only One Book Away from Postgraduate Entrance Examination Success", and its sales kept rising.
Also in this year, he joined Suzhou Yantu Education Technology Co., Ltd. founded by Kang Li as a co - founder (the company was established in January 2016 and received a Pre - A round of financing of tens of millions from Hujiang in April of the same year); in fact, he himself had founded Beijing Zhixiang Haitian Education Technology Co., Ltd. as early as May 2015. In March 2016, he sold 100% of the company's equity to Suzhou Yantu (but retained the legal person identity) - these were important pieces in his future business map.

He also appeared on variety shows such as "Mars Intelligence Agency" and "Speaker". But controversies also came with fame and fortune.

In 2018, he joked about the unpopular majors of Southwest University and was accused by netizens of "insulting the institution and discriminating against majors". Under public pressure, he publicly apologized. In 2019, someone splashed a surströmming can on him during a lecture at Qingdao University. The pungent smell and his embarrassed appearance became a laughingstock on the Internet. After the incident, he responded forcefully: "I've been popular for three years, and your competitors are already on pins and needles... If you don't focus on how to teach students well, you're destined to be abandoned by students!"

Many controversies didn't stop his upward momentum.

Capital Layout and Creed

In 2021, Zhang Xuefeng left a message on Weibo saying "I've become a passer - by when I return", announcing that he would move his family to Suzhou, Jiangsu.

After 14 years of struggle in Beijing, he had accumulated considerable wealth, but he didn't have a Beijing household registration, and it was difficult for his children to go to school. Suzhou provided him with rent - free office space, and he later became a deputy to the Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress.

More importantly, he completed the transformation from a well - known postgraduate entrance examination teacher to a college entrance examination volunteer filling planner. In May 2021, he founded Suzhou Fengxue Weineng Education Technology Co., Ltd. with a registered capital of 10 million yuan, and he held 75% of the shares (Yantu Education held 10%, and partner Kang Li controlled 20% of the shares through personal and Yantu Education holdings). The business mainly focused on college entrance examination volunteer filling and further - education planning.

This is a more imaginative market. According to data from iiMedia Research, the paid scale of the Chinese college entrance examination volunteer filling market will reach 109 million yuan in 2025 and is expected to rise to 122 million yuan in 2027. More than 90% of college entrance examination candidates are willing to choose paid volunteer filling services. After the new college entrance examination reform, the "3 + 3" or "3 + 1+2" subject - selection model has greatly increased the complexity of volunteer filling, creating a large amount of information gap.

Zhang Xuefeng accurately caught this trend. During the 2024 college entrance examination season, the "Dream Card" priced at 11,999 yuan and the "Dream - Come - True Card" priced at 17,999 yuan (with a price increase of 1,000 yuan each in 2025) launched in his live - streaming room sold out