On June 18,New Oriental foundershared a video on his social channels, adding this caption:New Oriental Group’s Annual Awards & Wrap-Up Meeting. We’re drawing names to send 10 top-performing staff and teachers straight to Antarctica.
The footage showsthe draw unfolding live at the event, where 10 lucky employees clinched their seats for the Antarcticcruise. As the host put it, each pass carries a serious price tag of ¥150,000 per person.
When asked about the draw,he made his stance pretty clear:leadership at every rung of the ladder—grassroots, mid-level, and executives—was completely scrubbed from the list. This one’s strictly for awarded staff and teachers, because he genuinely wants frontline talent to get the spotlight. He also dropped a teaser that expeditions to the Arctic, the Mediterranean, and other global hotspots are definitely on the roadmap.
Flashback to November 16 last year, right aroundNew Oriental’s32nd anniversary, hepulled out a letter to the entire workforce fromAntarcticato mark the milestone and rally the troops. Unsurprisingly,it stirred up quite a conversation online.
Inside that open note,he penned, “Right now, I’m standing dead center in Antarctica’s frozen expanse. All around me is endless white, jade-green icebergs, and this massive, peaceful quiet. Under the sun, the glaciers catch the light, almost murmuring about the weight of time and why sticking it out actually matters.”.
Savvy netizens went back and counted,noting the letter leaned heavily on “I” seventeen times and referenced Antarctica five times, while largely sidestepping the daily grind your typical employee is juggling. One user posted a cheeky “Letter Back to Him,” writing, “You’re watching icebergs melt down south, while I’m glued to Excel sheets in a cramped rental.”
That whole moment instantly dragged his personal polar travel bill back into the spotlight.Last November 20, he logged onto social media to shut down rumors claiming his voyage ran him a staggering 1.48 million yuan. He broke down the reality: costs swing wild depending on the operator and cabin grade, typically landing between ¥50,000 and ¥300,000. His own 12-day sail on the Chamonix-class liner settled somewhere between ¥200,000 and ¥250,000, depending on the room tier.
At the time, he also laid out a promise:“Next winter, I’m picking roughly ten grassroots standouts from both New Oriental and Dongfang Zhenxuan, plus ten top subscribers from Dongfang Zhenxuan, and fully footing the bill so they can experience Antarctica themselves.”
Jump to the June 18 reveal, and long before those employee tickets were swapped out, New Oriental had already kicked off sign-ups for ten Dongfang Zhenxuanmembers to hop on the Antarctic run.
Back on April 22 this year, he uploaded a clip confirming the invite for ten loyal Dongfang Zhenxuansubscribers. The application window ran from April 21 through May 18.
Here’s the fine print on who gets in:the subscriber slot opens to folks who grabbed the “buy two years, get two free” renewal package, plus founding members from the inaugural cohort (those who registered between October 2023 and September 2024 with an active main card). Of the ten slots, nine go to promo renewers, and one is reserved for a veteran subscriber who locked in a three-year deal.On the logistics side, the departure date is currently slated for February 4, 2027, wrapping up with a return to China on February 21—a full 18-day itinerary.
None of this generosity comes out of thin air, especially since New Oriental’s books are looking sharp lately. In their latest financial disclosure dropped on April 22,covering Q3 of fiscal 2026,the company reported solid momentum through February 28, 2026:net revenue climbed to $1.417 billion, up 19.8% year-over-year; operating profit hit $180 million, surging 44.8%; and net income attributable to shareholders reached $127 million, jumping 45.3%.
Peeking into the next fiscal cycle, New Oriental noted during their earnings call that core education margins are expected to keep tightening, with Dongfang Zhenxuanpoised to contribute an even heavier profit share. Growth pacing will hold steady near 10%, while ad spend will be aggressively capped, pointing toward a noticeable dip in their overall marketing expense ratio.
The subsidiary itself is trending upward too. Mid-term figures for fiscal 2026 showed that between June 1 and November 30, 2025, total revenue touched ¥2.3 billion, a 5.7% YoY lift. Adjusting for pre-spinoff revenue recorded in H1 2025, core growth actually jumped 17%. Gross profit came in at ¥841.6 million, up 14.5%, while net profit flipped to ¥239 million after posting a deficit of nearly ¥96.8 million in the comparable period last year.
One area demanding serious attention: Dongfang Zhenxuanhas been wrestling with notable creator churn this year.On June 10, streamer Zhisheng officially waved goodbye through a personal video, leaving the exact motivations unspoken. That wraps up the exit of everyone fans once grouped as the original “F4”—Dong Yuhui, Dun Dun, Ming Ming, and Tian Quan. The full roster shuffle rapidly ignited chatter across the industry.
Even before Zhisheng stepped away, a wave of flagship creators had already walked out the door. On April 25, Ming Ming, Tian Quan, Zhong Can, and Lin Lin all announced their departures on the exact same day, with their farewells consistently pointing to seismic cultural shifts triggered by the incoming leadership squad.
Addressing the mounting frustration, he hopped into a livestream on April 25 to issue a direct apology. He acknowledged thatDongfang Zhenxuan’s recent executive reshuffle tipped operational balance too far toward rigid oversight, sidelining everyday empathy and ultimately draining team spirit. He confirmed he’d held lengthy, honest talks with the four departing creators to try and retain them, pledging to tear down the current framework, rebuild management workflows, and eradicate the suffocating, high-pressure culture that got us here.
