A look at Newbee captain xiao8’s life and career

Previously we had Newbee's carry player Hao in a self-written statement and story that gave some background on who he was and what he wants in life. Now, in an in-depth piece published yesterday, Chinese esports writer BBKinG turns his attentions to xiao8, the captain of recently crowned TI4 champion team Newbee. These pieces serve to remind us that even the least-known players have dreams and struggles, and their stories are all worth listening to. The full text is translated below.

Zhang Ning (xiao8's given name) said, when he won the TI4 Grand Finals, his mind was entirely blank. Friends told him that during the final ceremony he was like a sleepwalker, and he said that he did indeed feel like he was dreaming. In the past it was always him watching others winning titles, fantasizing that his own team was the championship team, yet today he had actually won. It wasn't until the next morning waking up that he finally believed it wasn't all a dream.

The second day, with the world's news media reporting that Zhang Ning's team, Newbee, had won the Dota 2 TI4 in Seattle, the focus was almost entirely on the 5 million dollar prize.

Since so many people have talked about the money, let us talk a bit about the people!

Zhang Ning, born December 14, 1989 in Shaoyang, Hunan. His online nickname, xiao8, originating from his time playing Menghuan Xiyou (梦幻西游) in which he used "xiaoxiao". When he went to register for the VS platform for DotA, he found that xiao1 through xiao7 were taken, and thus xiao8 was born.

Zhang Ning's father was a construction contractor, mother a housewife, with an elder brother 5 years older.

From a logical point of view, this should have been a story of a wealthy childhood, because Zhang Ning's family had always been pretty well-situated. His mother's main work each month was collecting rent. But, in Zhang Ning's own words, his parents also upheld a longstanding Chinese tradition -- stinginess, or rather, strictness. Thus, this story becomes one of struggle between power and lack thereof.

During his elementary school years, Zhang Ning's grades were very good, generally top in the school. Everyone loved him, all the teachers praised him, and his parents were proud of him. So they agreed: if he could get number one in the school for middle school entrance exams, then they would buy a computer for him.

This held a lot of draw for Zhang Ning, because you should know that in the past with him going to the internet cafe to play games, it was not only expensive, but he would also get dragged out by his father and beaten for it.

The result was that he did in fact achieve top in the school, and his promised computer was in fact forgotten by the wayside. Strictly raised all his childhood, Zhang Ning dared not approach his mighty parents for an explanation. And so with this sadness he went into middle school life, and onto the path of rebellion.

Middle school Zhang Ning became very mischievous. Do you recall, when you were in middle school, the teacher would put the most difficult students separately all the way at the front of the classroom? Don't laugh at that kid, because he might be a world champion in the future.

Zhang Ning's relationship with his parents was once very poor; his father was very solemn and strict, frequently berating or beating him. His mother had a sharp tongue but soft heart. Zhang Ning's life was oppressed, and typically the more oppressed a childhood is, the more rebellious a young adulthood would be.

So it was in this way that Zhang Ning embarked on the path of destruction, skipping school to play games, causing trouble all over. Every week the school would call his parents, and by 2006 halfway through high school he had dropped out. He and three or four other friends started a leveling service for the online game Menghuan Xiyou. Taking out expenses, he was making some 10,000 RMB, quite a bit of money. But for a 16 year old, this instead caused him to feel even more lost. At this age one doesn't have many needs, he didn't know how to spend the money, so what was the point of making so much?

Therefore, when his father asked him whether he wanted to continue his studies or not, he felt that getting out to see and learn some things might be good, and he went to Zhongshan, Guangdong, to study programming.

Far away from home now, his studies actually improved. He really liked programming. Yet, it was lonely, because of language issues and not knowing the area or anyone nearby. With not a single friend around, he could only go to the internet cafe every day and voice chat with friends back home in Shaoyang. At this time, there was a game popular amongst his friends, called Zhen Sanguo Wushuang (Zhensan).

Speaking of this game, it truly was a source for many Chinese Dota professionals. Many esports competitors would have been teammates or opponents of each other in Zhensan. It was here that Zhang Ning would meet someone that would have a great influence on his life -- ZSMJ.

In 2009, still playing Zhensan, Zhang Ning witnessed ZSMJ and 2009 -- who had earlier transitioned to Dota -- winning a world title in SMM in Kuala Lumpur. And so he also began moving towards Dota, with a half year of time where he was playing both games.

With good results in his Zhensan days, his transition quickly received attention, and ZSMJ was the first to extend an offer, telling him that there was an opportunity with LGD. 09 was retired, the team lacked a core player.

A team emanating the aura of world champions, this was something that greatly attracted Zhang Ning, and thus he focused on practicing Dota on the VS platform for a month. Zhang Ning at this point set himself a goal: play professionally, win a world championship!

Unfortunately, former LGD player BeNz would return to the team, thus leaving xiao8 without a place, so things would have to be placed on hold.

However, his luck did not end here, for another famed Dota player, xB, approached him to join him and LongDD in the star-studded powerhouse team CH. Plane ticket purchased for him already, Zhang Ning made preparations to head to Chengdu.

It was just at this point that his good friend in Changsha, Yao, eagerly convinced him to stay, because there would be a new team in Changsha. It would be funded by a local man of wealth, and the team would consist entirely of his own friends from around the area. The biggest thing was that it would be close to home, and for Zhang Ning, who is one that prizes brotherhood and friendships, these elements would be enough to convince him to stay, and ultimately form the Dream team. The team would consist of, at the time: Yao, DD, Li, SJQ, xiao8.

1500 RMB per month, no food and lodging, but Zhang Ning was very happy. On the one hand, we could finally be together with good friends, and on the other, this was the start of his professional career, everything was new to him.

But that year's results weren't really ideal. The biggest impression was just two weeks after forming the team, they went to Thailand for a Dota tournament. In the round of 16 they were eliminated by a team they'd never even heard of, and that night at the hotel everyone bawled their eyes out, leaving no mood at all to go out and play.

Domestically, they got many, many second and third places, because above their heads there was always a team that loomed like the burning sun: this team was EHOME. 2010 EHOME, this team had BurNIng, KingJ and various big name players, and they were world-conquering invincibles. Yet, even though Zhang Ning and team never got a first place, they were young and their team was new, so they all maintained a fiery passion, and never stopped encouraging each other.

Things were all seemingly headed in a positive direction, a world championship did not feel too far, as long as Zhang Ning and his teammates could have a little bit more time.

However, history is brutal. Before Chinese New Year in 2011, Dream suddenly received notice to head to Beijing for a tournament. But because of the holiday, seats were unavailable on the trains, and so they stood all the way on the trip to Beijing. Before leaving, their manager also said some strange things out of the blue, stating that if they failed to get top 3 here, then there would be no salary for the month.

Under these strange and tiring circumstances, Dream achieved third place, but that month's salary was still not given. Additionally, after going home for the holidays, the manager went out of contact, and this team just ended up disbanding like this. This was considered a fairly normal thing in the esports scene at the time, with many teams and clubs lacking structure, players lacking contracts, so things would simply come and go.

Nonetheless, if it's gold then someone will want it, and after not long fellow Hunan player Zhou, alongside another player by the name of Sansheng formed a team called CCM and had managed to get funding from a boss in Beijing. They were willing to give Zhang Ning 5000 RMB per month, with lodging. Zhang Ning, wanting to play professionally and win a world title, agreed. He lied to his family and said that he was going to Beijing for work, and like that, he was on a new road leading him away from home. CCM's roster at the time was: 430, ddc, Zhou, Sansheng, and xiao8.

However, the dream only lasted three months. After three months, the boss was nowhere to be found. Even though they won a few titles afterwards, including a Malaysian tournament caled IPDC, the organizers ran off with the prize money. CCM fell into dire straits, and the team did not have much motivation to train. They just played on their own each day, and Zhang Ning's dissatisfaction grew deeper and deeper.

In August of 2011, the night of the China Finals for WCG. CEO of the Wanda Group, Wang Sicong, met with all of the CCM Dota players for a discussion. He announced that he was officially buying CCM, and changing the team's name to iG, paying the previously lost wages. He promised to raise salaries by multiples, along with signing on fees. This meant that Zhang Ning's salary would grow to over ten thousand; once he signed on the contract, he would immediately have a large amount of money in his hands.

Yet Zhang Ning ultimately decided that he needed to leave. It wasn't because of money, more because of the team falling apart during earlier difficulties that he felt negatively about. It was something that good friend ddc said that solidified his desire to leave: "What are you going to do with all that money? As long as we have fun playing together then all is good."

Afterwards, Zhang Ning and ddc accepted old friend ZSMJ's offer, joining a team of 4 Hunan friends plus one from Macau, LGD: xiao8, DD, ddc, Yao, ZSMJ.

LGD at this point was under the management of famed esports powerwoman Ruru, who offered 4000 RMB salary plus all food and lodging, with training taking place in Tianjin. Even though this was less than iG's offer, Zhang Ning was still very happy. For one, he was reunited with old friends, and for another, he found that their team house in Tianjin had hired cleaning and cooking staff, and for the first time he felt that competing professionally was a blessed thing.

For a period of time, LGD's results were not very good. After falling at the top 8 in WDC, that night ZSMJ came to xiao8 with tears in his eyes, and told him that his heart was no longer in it, that he planned to take a break.

After WDC, the influential figure in Zhang Ning's career, ZSMJ, had retired, but the team needed to continue moving forward. LGD transferred in Sylar from team WE, and the team's results started looking up.

Afterwards things were much smoother. LGD had rules in place, prize money all went to the players with the club taking none of it. Whenever the team made it to a finals, salary would see a rise, and after a year all the players were making over 10,000 RMB each. The esports environment was improving, and Zhang Ning saw his fame rise.

TI4 -- the trip to accomplish dreams

In 2014, Zhang Ning was originally planning to retire, but with convincing from an old friend, he joined the newly formed Newbee, alongside Banana, Sansheng, Hao, and Mu -- and he once again set out to challenge his own dream of winning a world championship.

Zhang Ning says, in 2012, his LGD squad had had it too easy with 17 straight wins at TI2 in Seattle. They thought that the title was just in front of them, but then they had all kinds of communication errors and low level mistakes that led to them losing -- losing to themselves. After that first loss, their mentality was shot, and they ended up with just third place, a huge regret.

At the 2014 TI4 tournament, it was the other way around, with Newbee losing over and over in the group stages. It was with tiebreakers that Newbee finally squeezed into the top 8, and it was as if they had clawed their way back to life from the cliff's edge, so they played exceptionally carefully and seriously later on. The pressure was huge, with no appetite to eat, and each night he could only fall asleep by pondering over how to approach the next day's matches. Yet it was just this pressure that forced the team to play to its potential.

Precarious Grand Finals

Before the Grand Finals, there were two days of break time for Newbee, but during these two days they hardly ate or slept. They were watching the opponents, analyzing them, fearful of missing any minute detail, to the point of not having actually touched a keyboard or mouse for that period of time. As a result, they lost their first game against VG due to not being warmed up, and due to the pressure. Fortunately after the first loss, no one felt it was an issue of ability, rather an issue of form, and if they could adjust then they could win. In the end they won 3-1 and took the TI4 world championship.

Today, Zhang Ning has gotten everything in life, he's gotten the proverbial raise and promotion, he's a world champion, he's married a beautiful woman, he's at the peak of his life. But, the woman came first.

"Establish family, build career" -- the order in this saying does make some sense.

In 2011, in his darkest hour, he met Zhao Jie from Shanghai. At the time she was already a fairly famous star, while Zhang Ning was a gamer with an unstable lifestyle. At first she did not even play games, she was at WCG to get autographs on behalf of a friend, she didn't even understand Dota.

Rejected, long-distance relationship, disapproval from parents -- this is practically the big three of mountains to overcome for a relationship!

Introverted, untalkative Zhang Ning from the first moment had decided upon this open, boisterous girl as the girl of his dreams. Either he would do nothing, or he would lock onto a goal and make it happen; and he chose the latter.

He conquered the mountains one by one, to the point where his parents-in-law even began staying up overnight to watch his matches. In April of 2014, the two got married. And note! All this happened before he won any huge million-dollar prize, and thus, Zhang Ning's story tells us that to chase a girl you must use your heart, everything else is just an excuse.

Just as you should do when you are chasing your dreams...

Source: http://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/bbking/19810782