Zhang Xuefeng has passed away, but he left behind a "legacy" in hard technology.
"Life is so much fun. I'll come again next time."
This was a line spoken with a smile by Zhang Xuefeng in front of the camera during the New Year's Eve live broadcast in 2025. At that time, he was asked about his expectations for the future. His tone was light, as always, with the unique straightforwardness of people from Northeast China. No one expected that this line would become his last footnote to the world a year later.
Image source: Weibo
At 15:50 on March 24, 2026, Zhang Xuefeng, the founder of Suzhou Fengxue Weilai Education Technology Co., Ltd., died of sudden cardiac death in Suzhou at the age of 41 after rescue efforts failed. The "postgraduate entrance examination lecturer" who came from Fuyu County, Heilongjiang Province, spent nearly two decades building an educational business empire centered around his personal IP - 9 existing enterprises, over a thousand insured employees, and an annual revenue of hundreds of millions of yuan. And just two years before his passing, he also quietly laid out investments in hard technology as a limited partner, and 6 of the indirectly invested enterprises have been listed on the capital market.
Now, with the sudden passing of the founder, a business empire highly dependent on personal credit is facing an unprecedented inheritance test.
From a county in Northeast China to a top internet celebrity, how large was Zhang Xuefeng's business map?
Zhang Xuefeng, whose real name is Zhang Zibiao, was born in 1984 into an ordinary working - class family in Fuyu County, Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province. In 2003, he was admitted to the Water Supply and Drainage Engineering major at Zhengzhou University through his own efforts. During his senior year, while helping his roommate organize postgraduate entrance examination materials, he accidentally developed an interest in the field of further education counseling, which laid the foundation for his future career path.
Image source: Weibo
After graduating from university in 2007, Zhang Xuefeng went north to Beijing and entered the postgraduate entrance examination training industry, starting from a basic consulting position. In 2008, he officially stepped onto the podium as a postgraduate entrance examination lecturer.
2016 was a crucial turning point in Zhang Xuefeng's life. The short video he recorded, "Interpretation of 34 '985' Universities in 7 Minutes," went viral on the internet, with the playback volume exceeding tens of millions. With his humorous expression in a Northeast accent, he transformed the obscure college analysis into highly contagious content. He leaped from an ordinary offline lecturer to a phenomenon - level internet celebrity and was called the "North Star for College Applications" by netizens.
After that, he frequently appeared on variety shows such as "Mars Intelligence Agency" and "Job Hunting Masters," gradually transforming from a KOL in a vertical field to a national IP. The total number of his fans across the internet continued to rise, and he gradually accumulated over 50 million fans across the internet.
After becoming famous, his remarks repeatedly sparked controversies - in 2023, his extreme statement about the "uselessness of journalism" and his generalization of liberal arts as the "service industry" both caused a stir in the public opinion field. However, the controversies themselves also became an amplifier of his influence.
In 2021, Zhang Xuefeng moved his whole family to Suzhou and started his second entrepreneurial journey. He founded Suzhou Fengxue Weilai Education Technology Co., Ltd., expanding his business from postgraduate entrance examination counseling to the field of college entrance examination volunteer planning, completing the transformation from a "famous postgraduate entrance examination teacher" to a "top figure in further education planning."
Zhang Xuefeng's business empire has always been centered around his personal IP and has gradually extended to multiple fields such as education, culture and tourism, media, and live - streaming e - commerce.
According to Tianyancha, Zhang Xuefeng is associated with 13 enterprises in total. He serves as the legal representative, executive director, manager, etc. of 9 companies and holds shares in 7 companies. The core entity is Suzhou Fengxue Weilai Education Technology Co., Ltd. The industrial and commercial registration information shows that the company was established in May 2021. Zhang Xuefeng holds 75% of the shares, and the remaining shares are held by Suzhou Yantu Education Technology Co., Ltd. and two natural persons.
Image source: Tianyancha
This company's business model has distinct characteristics of being "driven by personal IP": customer acquisition at the front - end almost completely depends on Zhang Xuefeng himself - short - video content, live - streaming lectures, and public remarks form the traffic entrance; the back - end delivery is completed by the team. Hundreds of college entrance examination volunteer planners are responsible for one - on - one communication, formulating plans, and finally finalizing college entrance examination volunteer applications.
This company is the core carrier for Zhang Xuefeng's business monetization. Its high - priced services are highly competitive. In the college entrance examination season of 2024, the "Dream Card" priced at 12,900 yuan and the "Dream - Come - True Card" priced at 18,900 yuan were sold out of 20,000 copies within 3 hours, with a single - event revenue exceeding 200 million yuan. The annual revenue in 2024 exceeded 800 million yuan, becoming a proper "cash - cow" business. By 2025, Fengxue Weilai had built a multi - dimensional monetization system including online courses, offline consultations, and book publishing, further consolidating its industry position.
In addition to the core education business, Zhang Xuefeng gradually expanded his business boundaries. At the end of 2023, Fengxue Weilai added new businesses such as online cultural operations and commercial performances, and applied to register the trademark "Xuefeng Selection," officially entering the field of live - streaming e - commerce. During the back - to - school season in 2024, he personally hosted a live - streaming sales event for Xiaoyuan Learning Machines, with sales of nearly 10 million yuan within an hour.
In March 2024, he registered and established Suzhou Fengfeng Huohuo Travel Agency Co., Ltd. and Suzhou Fengfeng Huohuo Chuangjiuzhou Travel Agency Co., Ltd., launching study tour products such as the "Youth Study Tour Season". The 6 - day, 5 - night tour was priced at 8,999 yuan, targeting junior and senior high school students aged 14 - 18, precisely meeting the parents' demand for "resource gap." However, one of the travel agencies was cancelled in March 2025.
In addition, Zhang Xuefeng also laid out in the field of cultural publishing. Through his wholly - owned Suzhou Fengyue Wanjuan Cultural Book Co., Ltd., he holds a 65% stake in Henan Zaitian Book Co., Ltd., further enriching the content monetization channels.
Zhang Xuefeng once revealed in a lecture tour: "I currently have three companies. The first one is about to go public, and I can probably earn hundreds of millions of yuan after the listing; the second one is valued at 500 million to 800 million yuan." He also publicly stated that the long - term deposits of his two companies both exceeded 100 million yuan. Based on this, the outside world estimated that his personal wealth was between 500 million and 800 million yuan.
By the time of his passing, the total registered capital of the enterprises he controlled exceeded 1.5 billion yuan, forming a business matrix with education as the core and multi - field coordinated development. And the core of all this relied on the traffic and trust endorsement of Zhang Xuefeng's personal IP.
"In the actual decision - making of parents and students, the weight of the 'Zhang Xuefeng' personal brand often exceeds the team - service attribute stated on the product page. This cognitive gap may indeed become an obstacle during the transition period because it takes time for consumers to transfer their trust. Enterprises need to gradually transfer the trust from individuals to the organizational system by continuously providing high - quality services, establishing a professional image of the team, and making the service process more transparent," said Fu Jian, the director of Henan Zejin Law Firm.
Investment map as an LP: Crossing into hard technology and betting on multiple IPOs and unicorns
In addition to the business map he built himself, Zhang Xuefeng also crossed into the venture capital field as an LP (Limited Partner), focusing on the hard - technology track. By investing in private equity funds, he indirectly laid out in multiple listed enterprises and well - known unicorns.
Public information shows that in July 2024, Zhang Xuefeng, through his controlled Fengxue Weilai, subscribed to a capital contribution of 16 million yuan and became an LP of Suzhou Yongxin Rongyao Venture Capital Partnership, with a shareholding ratio of 2.6667%. In February 2025, he made another move, investing 10 million yuan to join Suzhou Yongxin Kaituo No. 2 Equity Investment Partnership and becoming the third - largest shareholder with a shareholding ratio of 5.8824%.
The management institutions of these two funds are both Yongxin Ark. This institution was established in 2015 and focuses on cutting - edge hard - technology fields such as chip semiconductors, new - energy vehicles, and intelligent manufacturing. It has a cumulative management scale of about 2.5 billion yuan and has successfully invested in more than 70 technology - based enterprises, among which nearly 40 projects are directly related to integrated circuits.
Image source: Tianyancha
With the investment layout of Yongxin Ark, Zhang Xuefeng's LP investment map has reaped rich rewards, and he indirectly holds shares in multiple listed enterprises, including Zhongji Innolight Co., Ltd. (300308.SZ), Yunzhong Technology Co., Ltd. (688260.SH), Robotek Automation Co., Ltd. (300757.SZ), Dongwei Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (688261.SH), Nachi Microelectronics Co., Ltd. (688052.SH), and ZX Auto Technology Co., Ltd. (1274.HK).
Among them, Nachi Microelectronics is a classic investment case of Yongxin Ark, with an investment return rate of up to 935%, bringing substantial investment returns to LPs. In addition, Shengke Nanotechnology, in which Yongxin Ark participated in the investment in November 2024, successfully passed the review on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, becoming the first enterprise in Suzhou to pass the review on the Science and Technology Innovation Board that year.
Leaving behind a wife and a daughter, who will inherit the business empire?
Zhang Xuefeng's sudden passing has brought the inheritance issue of his business empire to the forefront.
As of now, there is no public information indicating that Zhang Xuefeng had set up a will or a family trust. In August 2024, Zhang Xuefeng, together with his wife Li Lijing and daughter Zhang Nianhan, participated in the recording of the variety show "Winter and Summer Vacations" as a parent. These are the family members he is currently well - known for.
Image source: Weibo
Bai Wenxi, the deputy director of the China Enterprise Capital Alliance, said that compared with contemporary entrepreneurs such as Li Xiang and Luo Yonghao, Zhang Xuefeng's "naked" state in terms of wealth structure is indeed rare. This reflects the difference in the mindsets of the two types of founders: technology entrepreneurs accept the modern corporate governance logic that "the company is independent of the individual" earlier, while creators in the knowledge - payment field often indulge in the "super - individual" narrative and underestimate systematic risks.
Fu Jian pointed out that according to the provisions of the "Civil Code," in the absence of a will, the estate will be distributed in accordance with the legal inheritance order, and will be jointly inherited by the spouse, children, and parents. The transition of company control may face the following challenges: the dispersion of equity may lead to a decrease in decision - making efficiency, there may be differences in opinions among the heirs, and the unclear corporate governance structure may lead to a management vacuum. It is recommended to use legal mechanisms such as shareholder agreements, improving the company's articles of association, and establishing a decision - making committee to ensure stable operation during the transition period.
In fact, equity does not equal control. The operation model of Fengxue Weilai, which is highly dependent on Zhang Xuefeng's personal IP, makes its inheritance issue far more complicated than that of ordinary enterprises.
The recruitment notice of Fengxue Weilai once revealed that the company has two accounts with tens of millions of followers, seven accounts with three million followers, and five accounts approaching one million followers. However, all these accounts are named after "Zhang Xuefeng" - Teacher Zhang Xuefeng, Zhang Xuefeng Talks about Further Education Planning, Fengxue Weilai. The traffic foundation of each account is Zhang Xuefeng himself.
On the evening when the news spread, multiple live - streaming rooms under the company were successively shut down.
From the perspective of pure service delivery ability, the professional knowledge of more than 300 college entrance examination volunteer planners will not disappear due to the founder's passing, and the database and service process are still in place. As the college entrance examination season in 2026 is approaching, the services for the signed students can probably be delivered normally. However, the key to whether Fengxue Weilai can survive is whether it can transform from "Zhang Xuefeng's company" into an education brand independent of individuals.
