Photo: Screenshot from media reports

Zhang Xuefeng, an online influencer and renowned tutor focused on college entrance exams, succumbed to sudden cardiac death in Suzhou at 3:50 pm on Tuesday, despite all-out rescue efforts, according to an obituary posted on his Sina Weibo account on Tuesday evening.

According to the definition of the World Health Organization, sudden cardiac death refers to natural death caused by cardiac reasons, characterized by loss of consciousness, that occurs within one hour after the onset of acute symptoms.

The last post on Zhang's WeChat Moments was made on Sunday, showing he clocked 7 kilometers of running, with a total of 72 kilometers logged for the month of March, China News Service reported on its official WeChat account.

As of press time, Zhang's profile pictures on social media platforms such as Douyin, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, and WeChat Official accounts have been switched to gray.

Zhang, whose original name was Zhang Zibiao, was born in 1984 in Fuyu county in Northeast China's Heilongjiang - a small county with a permanent population of only 220,000, financial media outlet 36Kr reported.

Zhang ranked 60th in the county in the gaokao college entrance exams, and was admitted to the Zhengzhou University, according to the report.

After graduating from Zhengzhou University, Zhang came to Beijing and entered the education industry. At first, he helped out at a friend's postgraduate entrance examination institution, per 36Kr.

Having helped about 800 students succeed in their major degree subjects and 3,000 institutions, resulting in more than two million possible combinations, Zhang's service markets itself with the slogan: "A good score in gaokao is less important than a good application strategy," South China Morning Post reported on July 5, 2024.

Zhang had more than 40 million followers across all online platforms, with a starting price of 250,000 yuan ($36,253) for video advertisements and an offline live streaming rate of 400,000 yuan per hour, 36Kr reported.

Zhang once sparked heated online discussions with some of his remarks. For instance, in a live stream, he said, "If my kid insists on majoring in journalism, I'll definitely knock him out and sign him up for another major instead," ce.cn, the website of Economic Daily News, reported. 

In September 2022, in a video discussing the notion that "liberal arts are useless," Zhang said, "What this society lacks is interdisciplinary talent. We must all avoid ending up as liberal arts students who can't do calculations, or science students who can't write."

His passing has sparked widespread attention and shock among Chinese netizens. Hashtags related to his death have ranked high on the trending lists of social media platforms such as Sina Weibo and Douyin.

Many netizens have expressed shock and disbelief over his death, while some who used to attend his lectures thanked him for the guidance he once provided, posting "rest in peace."

In a previous livestreaming, Zhang said, "my goal in life is that if one day I pass away, there will be a trending topic on major platforms saying 'Zhang Xuefeng has died.' I hope to be remembered by students and parents. Making a lot of money is no longer important to me. What matters most is being able to help people. Being able to help people is what matters most."


Global Times