Leaps of faith

A year later, Zhang decided to try skydiving through wingsuit-flying because he was enchanted on the spot by the thrill-seeking "batmen" in the first WWL China Grand Prix races.

At that time, he was a member of China's national paragliding team, with eight years of flying experience. But the world-record-holding pilot chose to spread his arms and start from scratch.

To learn flying in a wingsuit, the pilot from North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region flew to Arizona in the United States for base-jump lessons and learned how to parachute.

The learning process requires patience. Two hundred skydives are a prerequisite for high-altitude flying. One can't practice low-altitude skydives before completing 400 high-altitude wingsuit flights and skydives or try low-altitude wingsuit flights until after making 100 low-altitude skydives.

Zhang was finally able to do his maiden jump at Tianmen Mountain for the championship in 2016, a learning curve regarded as among the "fastest in the world".

He says, "When you follow the rules and improve step by step, it can be safe for you."

To bring the sport to more Chinese audiences, Zhang continues to promote himself on social media by uploading his free-fall videos and wide-angle photos, which usually receive mixed responses from netizens. Some hold the belief that he is being irresponsible with his life by doing such stunts.

Zhang says he is used to living with critical comments and doesn't let them affect him. His first impression of flying in a wingsuit was similar to how others react, deeming it a "madman's sport". His family was also concerned for his safety.

"But they later came to realize that I'm training scientifically, following strict rules and winning titles," he says. "Now, they neither agree nor object to my choice. I'm working hard bit by bit to change the opinions of those around me about the sport."

He says the often-quoted 30 percent death rate among practitioners of the sport is outdated.