The Death of Zhang Xuefeng and Xi Jinping's 'Three Aspirations'

Zhang Xuefeng, a Chinese internet celebrity known as the 'exam preparation humorist,' has tragically passed away. (Image / sourced from Weibo / Zhang Xuefeng)

[People News] On March 24, 2026, Zhang Xuefeng (real name Zhang Zibiao), a leading internet figure in China, suffered a heart attack while running at his home in Suzhou. Despite rescue efforts, he was pronounced dead at the young age of 41. This 'exam preparation humorist,' who gained popularity on Douyin and Weibo with his crude, humorous, and highly pragmatic style, had ominously predicted during a live broadcast last year: 'You might not see me next year; I've touched too many people's cakes.' Sadly, this chilling statement has now become a reality, marking a sudden and unfortunate end to his controversial life.

Common Children Grasping 'Stepping Stones' to Survive

Zhang Xuefeng's rapid rise to fame can be attributed to his keen understanding of the operational dynamics of the Chinese Communist Party's brainwashing education system, which he skillfully projected. He employed a 'stand-up comedy' format to break down the complexities of exam preparation and college application aspirations, highlighting that the college entrance examination established by the Communist Party essentially forces a large number of impoverished children onto a precarious path: survival.

Consequently, Zhang Xuefeng openly characterised high school curricula as a form of 'social screening tool.' He argued that the content of high school courses has limited direct applicability in university or society, emphasising that the primary significance of high school education lies in helping students gain admission to prestigious universities.

He emphasised that high school education is the only fair opportunity for children from ordinary families to improve their circumstances. However, he also cautioned students not to focus solely on exams; they should learn to leverage the foundation built in high school to choose a profession that can sustain them. He once remarked, 'Academic qualifications are the stepping stones; without these stones, you can't even get through the door.'

He advised children from ordinary families to set aside sentimental notions and embrace 'professional barriers': those excelling in physics should pursue engineering, while those strong in mathematics should opt for computer science. His controversial statement, 'If a child wants to major in journalism, just knock him out,' shocked society and attracted significant criticism. Nevertheless, it served as a reminder to ordinary families without connections: for the common people living at the bottom of society, who lack attention from the Communist Party and the government, studying liberal arts is akin to entering the lower tier of the 'service industry.'

This extreme utilitarianism, although criticised by state media as 'eroding the foundation of disciplines,' resonates with millions of ordinary parents. They believe that in the face of the drastic fluctuations in the current college entrance examination system and the job market, what Zhang Xuefeng offers is not a 'speculative tool,' but rather a 'manual for avoiding pitfalls.'

Zhang Xuefeng teaches children from ordinary families online how to grasp the 'stepping stones' and forge a path for survival. (People's Daily/AI-generated image)

The stark contrast: the 'guaranteed admission' lives of the red second generation.

However, the logic of 'striving hard and precisely filling out applications' that Zhang Xuefeng advocates seems pale and absurd when compared to the privileged lives of high-ranking officials and their families within the Communist Party.

While countless students from modest backgrounds are carefully calculating their chances of admission under the guidance of Zhang Xuefeng, the life paths of many children from the privileged families of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) present a different 'Chinese story.' For example, Xi Jinping, the current leader of the CCP, who is now hiding in the tunnels of Zhongnanhai to protect against American military underground missiles, only completed elementary school. Thanks to his 'red second generation' political lineage, he was directly admitted to the Department of Chemical Engineering at Tsinghua University at the end of the Cultural Revolution. In his memoir 'I Am the Son of the Yellow Earth,' he openly recalls, 'At that time, Tsinghua had two quotas for the Yan'an region, all of which were allocated to Yanchuan County. I filled in Tsinghua for all three of my choices.' 

This stark contrast highlights a harsh reality: in the face of the CCP's authoritarian regime, ordinary students must fight for their survival using 'stepping stones,' while the offspring of the elite merely need the 'seal' held by their parents, aiming to leverage the Communist Party's autocratic system to enter the political sphere in pursuit of greater power and to amass astronomical wealth. 

The '50 million' flow code and political protection 

As a representative of the Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress and a member of the CCP, Zhang Xuefeng has also navigated the political survival rules under the CCP's brutal oppression. 

For instance, on September 3, 2025, after watching the 'September 3 Military Parade,' Zhang Xuefeng shared his personal reflections in class, stating, 'If the gunfire of the war for national unification begins, I will personally donate at least 50 million,' and claimed that the company as a whole would contribute 100 million yuan, which triggered a wave of controversy.

Supporters of Zhang Xuefeng, often referred to as 'little pinks', believe he has shown a strong sense of 'patriotism' and social responsibility. In contrast, critics contend that in the highly competitive education and training market, Zhang has cleverly tapped into the 'traffic password' with his statements. They argue that only by adhering to the 'politically correct' 'mainstream narrative' and crafting a 'positive energy' image can he secure the political protection necessary to navigate the oppressive regime. His so-called patriotic fervour might be a passionate display influenced by nationalism, or it could serve as a carefully constructed 'political armour' for himself and his company as he operates on the fringes of an authoritarian system.

In 2023, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Zhang Xuefeng was elected as a representative to the 14th People's Congress of Jiangsu Province. He has repeatedly stressed that as a public figure and a congress representative, one must take a firm stand on national issues. As someone who has made a fortune online, has he not come across the well-known saying that circulated on the internet: 'Support the Communist Party, and you’ll be running straight into the crematorium'? When he makes statements that conform to the Chinese Communist Party's 'politically correct' standards, he may not realise the potential misfortune it could bring him, given that the Communist Party has been a 'disaster star', inflicting immense suffering on the Chinese populace.

Whose cake has been disrupted?

Zhang Xuefeng claims to have 'disturbed someone else's cake.' This cake could belong to intermediaries who profit from information asymmetry, or it may be that he has unveiled the deceptive facade of 'fairness in upward mobility' within the Chinese Communist education system.

Zhang Xuefeng's online courses convey a stark reality to ordinary people: under the authoritarian rule of the Communist Party, society is inherently unfair, and thus, one must adopt a practical approach.

Unfortunately, Zhang Xuefeng ultimately could not escape the toll taken by his overworked heart.

Some netizens pointed out that Zhang Xuefeng had actively responded to the authorities' call and had received seven doses of the Sinovac vaccine in the past. They also recalled that he had jokingly remarked, 'I am a big genius who has received three doses of the Sinovac vaccine, and I was quite pleased because it was Sinovac.' This has led netizens to question whether his sudden heart attack and death were related to this.

Zhang Xuefeng's death symbolises the plight of an individual who sought to carve out a path for ordinary people through 'technical means' within the cracks of a repressive regime, only to be completely drained by this high-pressure and absurd era.

In the wake of Zhang Xuefeng's passing, countless students from humble backgrounds continue to struggle on the narrow path to success, while privileged descendants who filled in 'Tsinghua University' for all three choices are frantically seizing more national resources before the already battered ship of the Chinese Communist Party sinks beneath the waves.

(First published by People News) △