Teenager Li Wenxing never imagined that after his death, he would become an internet sensation. Like Wei Zexi, he used his young life to tear open a scab on the skin of the internet.8On2theBOSSth, the news that college student Li Wenxing was scammed while job hunting on the “
Zhipin” website, which led to his tragic death, sparked widespread public concern.BOSSYesterday, the platform involved, “bossZhipin,” publicly responded, stating that once “everything becomes clear,” it will assume due responsibility according to the law. From a legal standpoint,BOSSZhipin is not the primary party at fault, but in the face of a lost young life, the public has turned skeptical eyes toward the company
Zhipin, accusing it of insufficient scrutiny in vetting job postings—this careless or negligent oversight ultimately led to today’s tragedy.BOSSPublic information shows that “4Zhipin” was founded2016years ago as a “star company” in the recruitment sector, having received investments from institutions including Shunwei Capital and Today Capital (affiliated with Xiaomi). Notably, despite extremely low main business revenue, it completed itsC+round of2000million USD in funding inBOSSyear. Since the exposure ofBOSSZhipin’s lack of vetting, a media reporter personally conducted an experiment on theBOSSZhipin website. Using a fake identity to create a company and post job listings, the process went through “without a hitch,” and even attracted many applicants submitting their resumes. Clearly,BossZhipin’s business model suffers from nearly zero barriers to entry and systemic vetting loopholes—this is precisely why
Zhipin was able to rapidly grow its user base and quickly rise as a star recruitment platform in just one or two years. It’s also why many criminals target such “free” platforms, where crimes carry almost no cost and fleeing involves zero risk.BossLike2016Zhipin, another Xiaomi-backed product, “Banana Chuxing,” also has numerous issues. Founded by a former Xiaomi employee, Banana Chuxing claims to be the “Didi Chuxing” of the travel industry. It promises to integrate online and offline services—from finding tour guides and making online payments to rating guides after service—to optimize the traveler experience to the greatest extent. At first glance, shared travel and online guide booking seem to solve many pain points in travel. But upon closer inspection, this product is riddled with flaws. Guides are a good entry point:50year saw a surge of over+Xcompanies hoping to break into this space, so Banana Chuxing’s claim to being the first in the industry is questionable. Moreover, all guide projects aim for aOTAmodel, which is actually the most capital-intensive and unrealistic approach. With major
platforms already monopolizing most traffic entry points, and guides largely bound to travel agencies, why would tourists bother scanning a code to find a guide when interpreters are already waiting at the scenic spot entrance?BossTravel products, compared to10Zhipin, are a more complex, far-reaching traditional service—yet according to my knowledge, Banana Chuxing also lacks rigorous vetting and certification processes to attract guide registrations. In fact, Banana Chuxing itself isn’t even among the national tourism administration-approved pilot units for freelance guide services (current tourism laws stipulate that guides must operate through travel agencies, and freelance practice is only permitted in8pilot regions, with the National Tourism Administration authorizing just
In addition, according to my investigation, the concept of an internet-based shared tour guide platform, or on-demand tour guides,+was not first proposed by Xiangjiao (Banana) Chuxing. Platforms such as Tuniu, Ctrip,900and Lvmama are all nationally certified pilot platforms for the free practice of tour guides and tour leaders. However, after nearly a year of development, only Ctrip and900Lvmama have continued to persevere. The idea of shared tour guides and internet-based tourism is indeed appealing, but where do the tour guides come from? How is their quality ensured? How do scenic spots screen tourists? How is service quality guaranteed? These are all very practical issues. It is reported that Ctrip, in collaboration with Qunar and former local guides, spent nearly a year attracting just a few thousand tour guides to register. Lvmama, which specializes in third-party public tour guide services,900currently has only410,000 active online tour guides. So where do the tour guides of the novice Xiangjiao Chuxing come from?
A Xiaomi ecosystem company announced at a press conference that itsApp“Xiangjiao Tour Guide” app had generated60RMB 1 million in revenue and attracted100over 100,000 users during its beta testing phase of1030 days. However, when consulting several seasoned travelers, most said they had never heard of Xiangjiao Chuxing. So where do the data and revenue come from? Could it be yet another low-profile money-maker under the Xiaomi umbrella? After trying out Xiangjiao Chuxing out of curiosity, I found that once inside the app, users can only choose a guided tour of the Ming Tombs (Thirteen Tombs), and are required to make a payment without even knowing the price. The product logic is chaotic, the service content is vague, and the overall experience leaves users confused and pressured to pay. You can’t polish a turd—faced with such a poorly designed product, what exactly are users supposed to be paying for? Data fabrication is already a common problem among startups, but I’ve never seen such blatant self-promotion.VMost people said they had never heard of Banana Travel. So where do the data and revenue come from? Is it yet another product under Xiaomi that quietly makes huge profits? Out of curiosity, I tried Banana Travel myself and found that once inside, I could only choose a tour guide service for the Ming Tombs, and I was required to pay without even knowing the price. The product logic is confusing, the service content is vague, and the entire experience left me baffled as I was pushed to make a payment. As the saying goes, you need to be solid yourself before you can deliver—so what exactly is so great about this product that Xiaomi claims is so impressive? Faced with such a poorly designed product, why should users pay for it? Data falsification is already a common issue among startups, but I’ve truly never seen such blatant self-promotion.10W+With such an extremely poor user experience, why should users pay for this product? Data falsification is already a common issue among startups, but I’ve truly never seen anyone boast so shamelessly before.
In summary, while Xiangjiao Chuxing is frantically attracting users and venture capital, shouldn't it also consider how to ensure the legality of its tour guides? How to guarantee the safety of travelers? These are matters of life and death—don’t trade trust for profit and repeat tragedies like those of Wei Zexi and Li Wenxing. In terms of user experience and tour guide experience, shouldn't the system also be optimized? Don’t assume that slapping on the “sharing economy” label will automatically make your product a hit.
Looking back at Xiaomi’s rapid growth over the past6decade, the company has risen from nothing to a valuation of tens of billions. Such swift expansion is undoubtedly supported by its hundreds of millions, even over a hundred million, Mi fans. Xiaomi ought to be grateful, yet it has disregarded copyright laws,WIFIthrottled internet speeds, hijacked routers, cheated on benchmark tests, engaged in false advertising—behaviors that bring us back to reality.BossZhipin.com (Liepin) has already slapped Xiaomi hard. How far can Xiangjiao Chuxing’s “gray area” strategy really go? If it continues to lose the support of high-quality products, abandons its original mission of serving users and taking social responsibility, and focuses solely on profit, tactics, and marketing, what future does the Xiaomi ecosystem really have?