He studied both at Zhejiang University (ZJU) and Zhejiang University of Technology (ZJUT), and graduated from the Department of Chemical Engineering at ZJUT in 1989.
1994, he founded his own company, the Zhongxiang Industry Corp.(忠祥實業公司/忠祥实业公司) in his hometown Shaoxing. He dramatically expanded his Business not only within Zhejiang Province but also to Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing, Tianjin, Tangshan, etc., including 13 different regions in China. 1999, he started investing in steel industry, he bought in the factory of Zunhua Steel (遵化市鋼鐵廠/遵化市钢铁厂), further developed it into the current famous Jianlong Steel (建龍鋼鐵/建龙钢铁), which is the largest private steel Producer in China.
In 2013's Hurun Report, he was ranked as 59th richest in China with an estimated fortune of $2.8 billion. In 2006's Hurun Report, Zhang was regarded as the Magnate of Steel in China. In 2007's Hurun Report, Zhang was ranked as one of the top three richest individuals in China's steel industry. In 2007's Forbes Mainland China Rich List (福佈斯中國富豪榜/福布斯中国富豪榜)- The China's richest People, Zhang was ranked No.41 with 9.75 billion Chinese Yuan (approximately 1.4 billion US$).
