S OCIETY
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efore media exposés, Create Abundance, an institution ad-
vertising itself as promoting spiritual and material prosper-
ity, had gained a highly loyal following among its many
thousands of members since it started in 2013, yet remained largely
unknown to the outside world. Over the years, its founder Zhang
Xinyue has been veiled in mystery and only her quotations were dis-
seminated within the circle.
Beginning in 2015, however, members nationwide began to report
the organisation to the police, suing Zhang for deception and fraud.
Since its inception, Create Abundance has opened at least 53 study
centres and studios nationwide with upwards of 10,000 members,
raking in over 1 billion yuan (US$145m) in membership and fran-
chise fees.
Market
In late 2013, Zhang travelled to Shenzhen to discus the details of
opening Create Abundance with Wang Wei, a previous business part-
ner-and victim. Zhang recommended Wang invest 3 million yuan
(US$436,000) and pledged to buy an island in Canada for Wang and
the other main investors. “[Zhang] told me that the Chinese market
for psychological counselling is huge and it’s easy to make a quick
fortune,” Wang told ChinaReport.
Wang was an old member of Zhang’s studio, Impression of Wom-
en, a forerunner to Create Abundance, which was established in 2006
in Changchun, in northeast China’s Jilin Province. The studio’s main
services were image planning for women, wealth accumulation and
providing psychological advice to help women become more confi-
dent and attain personal and family happiness.
“She knew very well what was on your mind and would give you
advice that sounded very comforting and made you feel greatly re-
lieved,” Wang recalled of the first day she sought advice from Zhang
as a client at Impression of Women.
There were then very few psychological institutions in the city and
some clients were keen to learn counselling skills from Zhang. Seeing
the market potential, Zhang began to adopt a new training scheme.
Zhang charged 5,000 yuan (US$726) for psychological counselling,
but the price would increase several fold if a client wanted to study
with her. Clients had to pay 150,000 yuan (US$21,780) to become
lifelong members.
Zhang then gradually put her business under the management of
others and began to systematically learn psychology, hypnosis, Bud-
dhism and public speaking skills. In a few years, Zhang put her main
efforts into recruiting students and the tuition fees for a lifelong mem-
ber rose to 1 million yuan (US$145,000) until the establishment of
Create Abundance.
Born in 1974, Zhang took an interest in business and trade when
she was young and was admitted to Changchun University of Tech-
nology in 1992, majoring in international economy. When at school,
she made a buck by trading stocks and selling clothes. In 1996, she
became a teacher at Changchun University but was dismissed several
years later for long-time absence. She later tried her hand at tea bars,
nightclubs and clothes companies before setting her goal of providing
psychological counselling and spiritual guidance.
On Christmas Day, 2013, Create Abundance opened its first ex-
perience class at a five-star hotel in Shenyang, capital of northeast-
ern Liaoning Province. During the promotional event, several tutors
shared their stories of success – how they had become better versions
of themselves, had happier families and more promising prospects
after following in the footsteps of Zhang.
Zhang told tutors of Create Abundance that they should become
social butterflies and lead luxurious lives in order to attract more stu-
dents. Zhang disclosed to others that she was the owner of several
gold mines and villas overseas. It was Zhang’s aim to make Create
Abundance one of the most famous women’s clubs in China and herPyramid Scheme
good Will Hunting
An institution claiming its aim is to sooth psychological
problems has raked in huge sums of money through an
alleged pyramid schemeBy Xiong Jianpeng