Chongqing and Zhejiang are competing for "Zhang Xue." What are they fighting over?

What could be more exhilarating than winning a championship in a race?

Over the past two days, Zhang Xue’s real-life version of “Flying Swordsman” has completely ignited the capital markets. Zhang Xue’s motorcycles have been selling out, while Hongchang Technology—indirectly holding a stake in Zhang Xue’s motorcycle business—has scored “20-centimeter” daily limit-up moves for two straight days. This has also lifted the motorcycle and motorcycle parts sector.

In places including Chongqing, Zhejiang, Hunan, and others, competition for the “Zhang Xue” IP (creative content or a brand with commercial value) has been just as intense and full of “gunpowder flavor.” Zhejiang state-owned assets jointly entered through a “dash into equity” before the championship, investing RMB 90 million; for a time, it was said as a great story. Hunan, meanwhile, loudly called out: “The Hunan story of Zhang Xue’s motorcycles shouldn’t be limited to the fact that Zhang Xue is from Hunan.” And in the list of component suppliers, cities such as Qingdao, Foshan, and Jiangmen also have made appearances one after another…

Xinhua News Agency photo

As more and more stories get unearthed, the plot has also begun to turn dramatic and rise and fall. A Hunan native made his way up through the motorcycle industry in Zhejiang, then switched to Chongqing to start a business—and succeeded in one go. But why, among the investors behind him, is it still Zhejiang?

The key question right now is: when different places compete for “Zhang Xue,” what exactly are they competing for? And how can they truly keep “Zhang Xues” in place?

“Competing for Zhang Xue”

On March 30, more than ten media organizations gathered at Zhang Xue Motorcycle’s factory in the Liangjiang New Area of Chongqing to interview founder Zhang Xue. “With ‘Motorcycle Capital’—backing enterprises that reach the top of the world, what should have been a story of mutual achievement between companies and local governments” “an ‘accident’” nonetheless arrived quietly—

“As an outsider who came to Chongqing to start a business, what policies, talent, and supply-chain support has Chongqing provided during the process?”

“Honestly, is it true or false? Honestly, none. Not a penny.”

The video went viral online and also sparked discussions about “competing for Zhang Xue.”

In January this year, Zhechuang Venture Capital, backed by Zhejiang state-owned assets, had just completed leading the Series A investment in Zhang Xue Motorcycle. It entered with RMB 90 million, valuing the post-investment company at RMB 1.09 billion. Two months later, French racer riders drove Zhang Xue Motorcycle’s 820RRRS racing bike, clinching the Portuguese round championship of WSBK (World Superbike Championship) by outpacing a host of brands from Europe, America, and Japan.

According to Tianyancha information, Zhang Xue Motorcycle completed its Series A financing in early March. The investors were Hangzhou Zhechuang Baige Venture Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), under Zhechuang Venture Capital, and Jinhua Zhechuang Jinyi Zhikong Venture Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), holding 5.5% and 2.75% respectively.

This “dash into equity” also made Zhechuang Venture Capital one of the biggest winners behind Zhang Xue Motorcycle’s championship. Before that, in the founding year itself, Zhang Xue Motorcycle had already completed a seed round with Shanghai Gao Xin Capital’s participation; it currently holds 9.17%. Beyond that, there was no sign of any capital from Chongqing.

This round of layout by the capital circles of Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai in itself is not without considerations about competing for Zhang Xue’s motorcycle business.

Cheng Junhua, general manager of Zhechuang Venture Capital, admitted in an interview with the Zhejiang Daily: “He has his own production capacity and supply-chain management approach, but expanding production is inevitable next. I do genuinely want to bring him to Zhejiang, but I won’t force him. What we can do is just tell Zhejiang’s story well, so he’ll want to come on his own.”

Nowadays, for local governments, “attracting by investment to attract (投带引)” has long become a “standard operating procedure” for investment promotion. And the flourishing venture-capital ecosystem in Zhejiang—especially its focus on and support for startups—has given Chongqing a lesson: how a government should cultivate a good venture-capital ecosystem, and achieve mutual win-win outcomes while accompanying companies as they grow.

The interest in Zhang Xue Motorcycle goes far beyond Zhejiang.

For example, Hunan media have already begun to imagine: “Zhang Xue Motorcycle will certainly expand production capacity. Can the new base be brought back to the place where Zhang Xue’s dream began—Hunan?”

Jiangmen is also publicizing its close connection with the championship model of Zhang Xue Motorcycle: “The helmet and the exhaust pipe, as well as the engine’s ‘heart’—the ceramic cylinder—are all from Jiangmen.”

Of course, Chongqing has also moved quickly. On March 31, the Liangjiang New Area of Chongqing officially announced that it would “provide nearly 200 mu of land to build a new production base” for Zhang Xue Motorcycle. Faced with competitions from different places for Zhang Xue Motorcycle, it’s hard to say it isn’t a precise “defensive move,” leaving the company ample room for development.

What truly keeps Zhang Xue in place

When it comes to competing for “Zhang Xue,” what exactly is being competed for?

Beyond the halo of winning the championship, Zhang Xue Motorcycle has achieved a breakthrough in track performance with a civilian version price of RMB 43.8k (only 1/3 of imported racing competitors). It is expected to push China’s domestic large-displacement motorcycles from “value-for-money” to competing through “technology premium,” directly confronting international brands such as Ducati, Yamaha, and Kawasaki.

Data show that in 2025, China’s motorcycle production and sales reached 22.1093 million units and 21.9677 million units respectively, up 10.69% and 10.25% year over year. Among them, motorcycle exports reached 13.3657 million units, up 21.33%; export value was USD 8.85 billion, up 26.78%.

In straightforward terms, China’s traditional domestic motorcycle market has entered a phase of stock competition. Developing high-end smart products and expanding overseas markets has become an urgent task.

For years, China’s motorcycle output has accounted for about half of the world’s total, yet it lacks discourse power in high-end products. However, as brands such as Zhang Xue, Chunfeng, Qianjiang, Keeway, and Zongshen have begun to bloom in multiple places on international race tracks, it is expected to help shift the global two-wheeler manufacturing center toward China and enhance the industry’s global competitiveness.

At a brand partner conference not long ago in 2026, Zhang Xue revealed that in 2025 Zhang Xue Motorcycle’s total output value was RMB 750 million, R&D investment was RMB 69.58 million, and the R&D-to-sales ratio was 9.33%. In the same period, it reported a loss of RMB 22.78 million. Starting in 2026, terminal sales will double: 50k units expected in 2026, surpassing 100k units in 2027, and aiming for 200k units in 2028.

The enormous potential of mid-to-high-end motorcycles becomes apparent. It’s not hard to understand: on the surface, different places appear to be competing for “Zhang Xue,” but in reality it reflects the ambitions of Chongqing, Zhejiang, and Jiangmen—motorcycle strongholds—pushing motorcycle upgrading toward high-end, intelligent, and global development, building a new engine for manufacturing industry upgrading.

In fact, when Zhang Xue said in the interview “not a penny,” he also added the reasons he chose to start his motorcycle business in Chongqing:

Chongqing has a strong foundation in the motorcycle industry, “and the suppliers are all here.” When he first started his business in Chongqing, the first place he visited was something similar to “Huaqiangbei.” Based on his own needs, with RMB 20k he assembled a motorcycle. With that motorcycle, he exchanged for startup capital. After the company grew bigger, Zhang Xue decided to make the engine himself—reducing precision from 5 microns to 3 microns. He could still find suppliers to meet that requirement.

That is to say, what startups consider first is the industrial ecosystem: how complete the industry-chain and supply-chain are. As “Motorcycle Capital of China,” Chongqing has more than 50 large-scale whole-vehicle motorcycle enterprises and more than 410 large-scale parts enterprises. The local supporting rate for fuel motorcycles exceeds 80%, while the local supporting rate for electric motorcycles is about 60%.

This gives Chongqing the advantage of “winning half the game first.” Now Zhang Xue has放出豪言—“within the next five years, we will capture more than 50% of the share held by international big brands.” As enterprises develop, so does the city. What truly keeps “Zhang Xues” is always whether it’s possible to embed companies into the city’s industrial ecosystem—so that the city is always needed by the companies.

The real competition among Chongqing, Zhejiang, and even Jiangmen has never been about who can offer better terms, but about who can achieve a corner-exit overtake first on the global track.