Zhang Junjie's underdog narrative: From scavenging for trash to helming the multi-billion-dollar chain, Chatime, and from being an orphan on the streets to marrying into a wealthy family.

The weddings of the wealthy often attract curious looks.

But if the groom is a self - made man who has turned his life around, there will be even more sensational elements.

Coincidentally, Zhang Junjie, the founder of CHAGEE, ticks both boxes.

Recently, a wedding invitation circulated on the Internet. The groom is Zhang Junjie, a post - 90s entrepreneur, and the bride is Gao Haichun, also a post - 90s and the co - chairperson of Trina Solar. The combined market value of the two listed companies they are associated with is approximately 60 billion yuan.

One built his business on tea drinks, selling 230 million cups of "Boyajuexian" and taking CHAGEE public on the NASDAQ.

The other has been deeply involved in the photovoltaic industry, rising from the deputy general manager of the strategic investment department to the co - chairperson, and is hailed as the "most beautiful second - generation photovoltaic entrepreneur".

However, once the wedding news broke, all kinds of sensational rumors about a "commoner marrying into a wealthy family" flooded in. On November 21st, Zhang Junjie finally spoke up on his WeChat Moments, putting an end to the rumors.

It only took Zhang Junjie 15 years to go from being illiterate to taking his company public on the NASDAQ. People who achieve such a transformation from the margins of society to the center of the stage are often called self - made men in the Internet context.

The narrative of self - made men often inspires more people in the social tide with their perseverance and hard - work spirit. Apart from classic stories like Forrest Gump that we are all familiar with, there are also many self - made men talked about today. For example, the autobiography "Hillbilly Elegy" by U.S. Vice - President Vance has been added to countless reading lists.

In China, "Out of the Gobi" by Shan Weijian, a financial tycoon who took over Wanda's assets from Wang Jianlin, is also regarded as a classic by many. After reading these two books, you will find that the self - made man narratives of Vance and Shan Weijian seem inevitable, like a noble soul wandering in different material environments.

However, Zhang Junjie's self - made man narrative is different. He is more like an ordinary, underprivileged, and desperate soul who has achieved a transformation that he originally had no chance of through his own thinking along the way.

So, how did Zhang Junjie do it?

A Disastrous Start

Zhang Junjie was originally named Zhang Jun. He was born in 1993 in an ordinary family in Kunming, Yunnan.

It was an era full of hope, when the slogan "Development is the absolute principle" echoed across the country.

From 2003 to 2010, China's economy soared like a dragon. The city skylines kept rising, the GDP grew at double - digit rates year after year, and the Beijing Olympics attracted worldwide attention.

But these grand narratives had nothing to do with Zhang Junjie at that time.

When he was 10 years old, his parents passed away one after another.

No one knows how a 10 - year - old boy survived the next seven years.

He had no fixed place to live, didn't complete nine - year compulsory education, and was illiterate. He had to run around for survival.

He picked up garbage when he was hungry and slept on the streets when he was cold. He was too young and illiterate to even work as a sanitation worker.

Someone later asked him how he survived those seven years.

He didn't want to talk about it much and just said, "Surviving was a miracle."

Zhang Junjie rarely mentions his past because he doesn't want to play the victim. But whenever he talks about it, he always can't help but choke with emotion.

The turning point came in 2010.

On January 19th that year, 17 - year - old Zhang Junjie went to apply for a job at a Taiwanese milk tea shop called "Daiwie Drinks" in Kunming, and the store manager gave him a chance.

He became an apprentice.

On his first day at work, he found that he couldn't even read the menu or pronounce the names of the milk teas.

After work that day, the store manager gave him a pinyin book and said, "Start learning from this."

That night, on the small bed in the employee dormitory, he looked at those strange symbols seriously for the first time.

This was Zhang Junjie at 17. Smartphones were just emerging, and Weibo was becoming popular.

For most 17 - year - old high school students at that time, it was a time to prepare for the college entrance examination in spacious classrooms, play "World of Warcraft" in internet cafes in groups, and write non - mainstream signatures in QQ spaces.

It was also at this time that Zhang Junjie started his pursuit.

During the day, he learned to make milk tea, memorized recipes, and observed customers; at night, he learned pinyin, recognized Chinese characters, and practiced writing.

While others worked 8 hours a day, he worked 12 hours.

He developed an almost obsessive habit: whenever he heard an idiom he didn't understand, he would immediately ask for its meaning and force himself to use it in the next conversation, regardless of whether he used it correctly or not.

At the age of 18, in 2011, he finally learned to read and write.

He wrote a sentence in his notebook as a belated coming - of - age gift to himself: "I will make up for the lost time."

The crazy way he "made up for lost time" even scared his later investors.

Many years later, Hu Boyu, the founder of XVC and an early investor in CHAGEE, recalled his first meeting with Zhang Junjie: "He said he 'didn't go to school'. I thought he meant he didn't go to college. It was only later when I saw him writing on the blackboard and using pinyin to replace many characters he couldn't write that I realized he really had no basic education at all."

Hu Boyu was very surprised. How could a person who only learned to read at 18 evolve to such an extent in just a few years? What kind of learning ability was this?

Facts have proved that Zhang Junjie not only learned to read but also learned to do business.

During his five - year tenure at Daiwie Drinks, he was on a roll. He went from a clerk to an assistant store manager, from an assistant store manager to a store manager, and from a store manager to a regional supervisor.

He advanced one step every year and finally became a franchise partner.

When he was in charge of regional operations, he took over a franchise store on the verge of closing. It was in a remote location with no customer flow, a seemingly hopeless situation.

Zhang Junjie had never attended business school, but he used two simple and practical methods.

One was to distribute flyers to nearby businesses, residential buildings, and office buildings, promoting phone orders and creating his own take - out business without the help of take - out platforms.

The other was to find a small grocery store near a primary school and place his milk teas there for consignment, thus expanding his customer base.

The store successfully survived.

Although Zhang Junjie had never been to school, he was smart and knew how to leverage resources.

In 2015, 22 - year - old Zhang Junjie made a decision that surprised everyone.

He decided to leave his comfort zone, leave Yunnan, and go to Shanghai.

He joined a high - tech company, Shanghai Muye Robotics, as the deputy director of the cooperation department, responsible for Asia - Pacific business.

People around him were shocked: "You're a milk tea seller going into robotics? Do you understand code?"

Zhang Junjie calmly replied, "I'm a very practical person. What I want to learn is not technology but management and how to run a global company."

During his two - year stay in Shanghai, his vision was completely broadened. He learned about financing, strategic planning, and what it meant to have a "global perspective".

It was also during this period that he read "The Long Walk to Freedom" about Nelson Mandela.

The words about faith in Mandela's prison deeply touched him.

"One should make a career in life."

He decided to change his name.

From Zhang Jun to Zhang Junjie, which means that those who understand the times are heroes.

In 2017, Zhang Junjie, having transformed into a business elite, returned to Yunnan.

The era of CHAGEE officially began.

Business Success

In June 2017, Zhang Junjie returned to Yunnan and registered a company. He wanted to do the tea - drink business and named it CHAGEE.

On November 17th, 2017, the first CHAGEE store opened on Wuyi Road in Kunming.

However, the birth of a myth often comes after a long period of dormancy.

From 2017 to 2021, the new tea - drink market was highly competitive. HEYTEA, founded in 2012, had already received 100 million yuan in financing and had stores all over first - tier cities; Nayuki, established in 2015, was valued at 6 billion yuan and was known as the "first new tea - drink stock"; and Mixue Ice City, which had been in business for 20 years, had 3,500 stores.

For a full four years, the number of CHAGEE stores was less than 500.

The outside world mocked it as a "Yunnan specialty", but Zhang Junjie, like an obsessive person, focused on one product - Boyajuexian.

He used jasmine snow buds, a blending process, and fresh milk. He tasted thousands of types of tea and adjusted the recipe countless times just to find the perfect balance between "tea and milk". Boyajuexian was finally finalized in 2022.

At that time, the Chinese - style trend was on the rise, and young people began to pay for Chinese culture. The new tea - drink market entered the second half, where taste and brand were both important.

In June 2021, after four years of accumulation, Zhang Junjie made two decisions:

First, he moved the company's headquarters from Kunming to Chengdu to start a national layout.

Chengdu is a major city in Southwest China with strong radiation ability and sufficient talent reserves. More importantly, it is at the forefront of the new consumer market.

Second, he completed over 300 million yuan in Series A and Series B financing, jointly led by XVC and Fosun, with Congbi Qiushi following.

"Either don't do it, or do it to the extreme." Zhang Junjie was full of confidence.

In 2022, CHAGEE officially promoted Boyajuexian as its main product, priced between 16 and 25 yuan, targeting Starbucks without engaging in price wars.

After that, CHAGEE was like a charging tiger, unstoppable.

In 2023, the single product "Boyajuexian" sold 230 million cups in a year, setting a sales record for a single product in the Chinese tea - drink industry.

In the same year, 2,300 new stores were opened. On average, six new stores opened every day, and the growth in that year was three times that of the previous five years.

Zhang Junjie no longer hid his ambition.

In May 2024, in front of thousands of people, Zhang Junjie shouted out the goal: "In 2024, the sales will exceed 20 billion yuan, and we will surpass Starbucks China."

As of 2024, the number of CHAGEE stores reached 6,440, and the GMV was 29.5 billion yuan.

Data shows that Starbucks China's revenue in fiscal year 2024 reached 2.958 billion US dollars, equivalent to approximately 21.53 billion yuan.

In August 2024, an announcement shocked the business world again.

Haidilao issued an announcement appointing Zhang Junjie as an independent non - executive director with an annual salary of 1.2 million yuan for a three - year term.

The once illiterate boy who worked in a milk tea shop now sits on the board of directors of Haidilao, a Chinese catering giant, chatting and laughing with Zhang Yong.

He was 31 years old this year.

He has a fortune of billions, manages more than 6,000 stores, and tens of thousands of employees.

However, he still maintains a kind of "ascetic" - like sobriety. According to a person close to Zhang Junjie, "He still has no house or car. He simply doesn't have such material needs. What he wants is to be remembered in history."

At the 2024 annual meeting, Zhang Junjie couldn't hold back his emotions. He walked to the center of the stage in front of thousands of employees and bowed deeply.

When he stood up, his face was full of tears.

On April 17th, 2025.

In New York, at the NASDAQ Stock Exchange, Zhang Junjie stood in the center of the stage in a neat suit.

CHAGEE was officially listed, with the stock code CHA.

The issue price was 28 US dollars, and the valuation was 5.1 billion US dollars, equivalent to 37.2 billion yuan. CHAGEE became the first Chinese tea - drink company to be listed in the United States.

On the first day of the IPO, CHAGEE's stock opened up more than 20% and closed up nearly 16%, at 32.44 US dollars per share.

Regardless of CHAGEE's future, objectively speaking, Zhang Junjie is a genius in this business journey.

A Marriage into a Wealthy Family

In the conventional business narrative, the marriages of the wealthy are often