The romanticization of the "Zhangs"—Zhang Xue, the cycling entrepreneur, and Zhang Xuefeng, the education guru—is a symptom of a deep, systemic refusal to face reality.
Mainstream narratives paint them as folk heroes for the common man. They are framed as mentors helping the "little guy" navigate a rigged system. It’s a heartwarming story. It’s also completely wrong. Read more on a similar issue: this related article.
By framing Zhang Xuefeng’s advice as "empowerment," we ignore the fact that he is actually the chief architect of a new kind of intellectual surrender. He isn't teaching students how to succeed; he is teaching them how to optimize their own obsolescence.
The Myth of the Practical Life Raft
The "lazy consensus" suggests that Zhang Xuefeng is a truth-teller because he tells poor students to avoid liberal arts and chase "stable" careers in medicine, law, or the civil service. This is touted as the ultimate pragmatic wisdom. More analysis by Business Insider delves into comparable perspectives on this issue.
It isn't. It is a race to the bottom.
When millions of students follow the exact same "pragmatic" advice, they create a massive labor glut in a handful of sectors. This drives down wages, increases competition to a fever pitch, and ensures that the very "stability" they sought vanishes. Zhang isn't handing out life rafts. He’s telling everyone on a sinking ship to crowd into the same corner of the deck.
I’ve spent years analyzing labor markets across East Asia. I’ve seen what happens when an entire generation pivots toward "security" simultaneously. You don't get security. You get a hyper-saturated market where even the most "practical" degree earns you the salary of a delivery driver. By the time these students graduate, the "safe" path is already a graveyard.
Zhang Xue and the Fetishization of Toil
Then we have Zhang Xue, the man who cycled across China and built a brand on the back of sheer, unadulterated grit. The media loves him because he represents the "Old Guard" spirit—the idea that if you just pedal hard enough, you can overcome any structural disadvantage.
This is a dangerous distraction.
Individual grit is a poor substitute for institutional reform. When we hold up Zhang Xue as an icon, we are telling a generation of burnt-out youth that their failure isn't due to a slowing economy or a rigid class structure, but because they didn't cycle far enough. It’s a "bootstraps" narrative repackaged for a digital audience.
In a modern economy, the return on "hard work" is diminishing. Strategic positioning, capital leverage, and technological fluency are the real drivers of wealth. Pedaling a bike is a great metaphor, but a terrible business strategy.
The Commodity Trap
Zhang Xuefeng’s primary "contribution" is the commodification of the Chinese student. He treats the university selection process like a supply chain problem.
- Input: A student with decent test scores and no money.
- Process: Strip away all passion, curiosity, and risk-taking.
- Output: A standardized worker for a mid-tier government bureau.
This approach assumes the economy will remain static. It ignores the reality of automation and the shifting demands of the global market. If your only value is that you can perform a standardized task for a "safe" employer, you are the easiest person to replace.
The true contrarian take? In an era of AI and mass automation, the "useless" liberal arts degrees Zhang Xuefeng mocks—philosophy, literature, critical theory—actually provide the cognitive flexibility that "practical" degrees lack. A student who learns only how to fill out forms or follow rigid medical protocols is training to be a second-rate algorithm.
The False Dichotomy of Dreams vs. Bread
The competitor's piece loves to talk about "ambition." But what kind of ambition are we talking about?
There is a difference between Ambition A (creating something new, solving a problem, building a legacy) and Ambition B (climbing one rung higher on a ladder that is already on fire).
The "Zhang phenomenon" promotes Ambition B. It’s defensive. It’s rooted in fear.
When you look at the data on Chinese youth unemployment, the problem isn't that students aren't "practical" enough. The problem is that the "practical" jobs are disappearing. The manufacturing sector is automating. The tech sector is "slimming down." The civil service is overwhelmed by millions of applicants for single-digit openings.
Zhang Xuefeng’s advice is a band-aid on a gunshot wound. He tells you how to win the battle for a shrinking pie, while never questioning why the pie is shrinking in the first place.
The Cost of the "Safe" Bet
Let’s run a thought experiment. Imagine a scenario where every student in China follows Zhang Xuefeng’s advice.
- Innovation halts: No one takes a risk on a startup or an unproven field because it’s not "safe."
- Wage collapse: The supply of accountants and mid-level lawyers triples, while the demand stays flat.
- Societal Stagnation: A nation of "stable" bureaucrats is a nation that cannot adapt to the next industrial revolution.
This is the high price of "practicality." It leads to a society of highly-educated, low-value workers who are terrified of the future.
Dismantling the "People Also Ask" Delusions
"Is Zhang Xuefeng helping the poor?"
No. He is helping the poor survive in a system that is designed to keep them poor. He isn't teaching them how to build wealth or disrupt industries; he is teaching them how to be the most efficient cogs in the existing machine. Real help would involve teaching financial literacy, investment strategies, and how to navigate the global—not just domestic—market.
"Should I follow Zhang Xue’s example of grit?"
Only if you want to be exhausted. Grit without leverage is just a slow way to fail. If you have the energy to cycle across the country, use that energy to learn a high-leverage skill that can be scaled. Physical endurance is not a business model.
"Why is Zhang Xuefeng so popular?"
Because he provides a sense of certainty in an uncertain world. People crave a checklist. They want to be told that if they do X, Y, and Z, they will be "safe." Zhang provides that checklist. The fact that the checklist is outdated doesn't matter to a panicked parent; the feeling of certainty is what they are buying.
The Hard Truth Nobody Admits
The "Zhangs" are successful because they are selling a product that people desperately want to believe in: the idea that the old rules still work if you just try a little harder or pick a slightly better major.
They don't.
The old rules are dead. The Chinese economy is undergoing a massive structural shift that "practical" majors cannot fix. The future belongs to those who can navigate ambiguity, not those who can memorize a list of "safe" career paths.
If you follow the crowd, you will end up where the crowd is: stuck in a hyper-competitive, low-margin life, wondering why the "stable" path felt so much like a trap.
The real winners aren't listening to Zhang Xuefeng. They are busy building the systems that will eventually automate the "safe" jobs he recommends.
Stop looking for a mentor to tell you how to fit in. Start figuring out how to be the person who can't be replaced by a standardized test or an AI prompt. Everything else is just noise for the masses.
