Zhang Jike's Butterfly Blade History
Before Butterfly: Stiga Carbo 7.6
Before Zhang Jike joined the Butterfly camp, his best-known blade was Stiga’s Carbo 7.6. Built on a CL-like structure, with carbon powder mixed into the glue between the wood plies to raise speed and explosiveness, it had that distinctive Stiga ball-grip on a hard loop — and plenty of violence — at half the price of a Viscaria. The downside: the non-CR version, in this inorganic era, was prone to “stringing” the topsheet; the 7.6 CR had a harder surface that made the short game a little bouncy.
Viscaria
The most important blade of Zhang’s career, and a legendary stick worthy of the history books. Faithful, linear and stable, it shows the solidity and power of the core even under big strokes — the kiri-core splicing craftsmanship is on full display. Its influence is enormous; Viscaria collectors are many, and the succession of codes from iron-stamp to aluminum-stamp becomes a market talking point. Even with Zhang’s departure from Butterfly, the Viscaria won’t dim — its devotees among the pros remain numerous.
Custom-Order Viscaria
The market version is more linear; the custom version has a fiercer ball-grip and stronger power loading, which pushed custom-Vis prices ever higher. Debated as it was, there’s no denying Zhang used the custom Viscaria more often. For backhand handling the market Vis is actually simpler; the custom holds the ball more but the backhand release is less crisp, a bit draggy — yet you can’t ignore the custom’s more ball-holding, deeper-powered forehand.
2011: Dragon and Phoenix
In 2011 Zhang won the Rotterdam Worlds men’s singles, launching the fastest Grand Slam run. That same year Butterfly released the Dragon edition for Zhang Jike and the Phoenix edition for Liu Shiwen — one outer ALC, one inner ZLF, inner-and-outer in harmony. The Dragon-Zhang feels fairly through, not as dead as a typical arylate-carbon blade, with decent first-gear speed and an overall soft feel; its bottom-end power, though, is mediocre. Feng Tianwei was among its users.
2013: The Zhang Jike Signature Line
Before this, Zhang briefly tried the Super Zhang, found it too hard, and went back to the Viscaria. Butterfly even made him a “hybrid” — a Super Zhang handle with a Viscaria structure — but he wouldn’t use it, saying he loved his original blade’s wood character, handle grain and grip. Still, the Zhang Jike line later won many fans, from the pros to amateurs.
The Zhang Jike T5000, like a thin steel sheet with an outer carbon structure, plays genuinely blazing fast. The Zhang Jike ZLC was, for a long stretch, the main blade of Shan Xiaona (penhold short-pips); its thin 5.5mm body has enough support thanks to the ZLC, with some flex on ball-holding at small-to-medium power yet a firm feel on the hit — fitting the “soft yet firm” requirement of a short-pips blade.
Zhang Jike ALC
The most important piece of the line, seen as a Viscaria variant; performance-wise it best fits the “soft-version Viscaria” description. Its users are legion: Wang Manyu, Zheng Peifeng, Zhao Zihao, Wong Chun Ting, Daiki Shinozuka, Shunsuke Togami and more. Notably, several penhold players chose it: the Viscaria’s penhold face is on the small side, while the Zhang Jike ALC’s penhold face is more standard at 161×150mm — penhold players tend to prefer the better ball-holding.
Super Zhang Jike (Super ZLC)
The first-ever Super ZLC-fiber blade. By virtue of the “Super” name it’s hugely popular among amateurs: hard, fast, with a big sweet spot. National-level users include Yan Sheng and Wong Chun Ting — both penhold — plus shakehanders like Chuang Chih-Yuan and Lin Yun-Ju. Compared with the later Lin Yun-Ju and Fan Zhendong SZLC blades, the Super Zhang is firmer and stronger. Now that Donic has signed Zhang, expect collectors and current users to eye the Super Zhang keenly.
Limited Editions
2013 saw the first Zhang Jike limited edition — a Viscaria-like structure built to genuine custom-order standards. I only tried it rather than truly savoring it, but it was special: the clarity of ball-holding, the through-feel and the power loading were all really good. The 2017 second-generation limited edition drew plenty of fangirls, but its high launch price means some shops still have unsold stock gathering dust — with a hinoki top ply and a 5+2 structure, Butterfly assumed “hinoki commands a premium,” but the domestic market didn’t buy in, much like the second Chuang Chih-Yuan limited edition.
2018 Onward: Gold-Stamp Viscaria and the 70th Anniversary
In 2018 the gold-stamp Viscaria arrived — more ball-holding, easier to spin — and let many taste quick appreciation in value. Then came 2021’s Super Zhang Jike 70th Anniversary Special: far softer than the market version, much more elastic, with ever-stronger bottom-end power and outstanding looping — truly custom-grade.