Career
He holds the Chinese indoor record of 2.33 metres, and has jumped 2.38 metres outdoors. He was the silver medallist at the 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships. He has been a finalist at the World Championships in Athletics and the IAAF World Indoor Championships and represented China at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
His first season of international competition came in 2010 and with his best jump of the year (223 metres) he took the silver medal at the 2010 Asian Junior Athletics Championships, finishing behind Mutaz Essa Barshim.
He was runner-up to Huang Haiqiang at the Chinese Athletics Championships that year. He was undefeated on the Asian Athletics Grand Prix circuit in 2011 and placed eighth at the Asian Championships.
He was selected for the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, where he cleared a personal best 2.31 m in the qualifying and went on to finish tenth in the final. A jump of 2.28 m at the national championships gained him his first Chinese high jump title.
At the 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships Zhang repeated his regional placing behind former junior rival Barshim and was the silver medallist.
His good form continued at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships as he finished joint fourth with a Chinese record-equalling mark of 2.31 m (tying with former world record holder Zhu Jianhua). He was selected to represent China at the 2012 London Olympics but did not progress to the final. Zhang overhauled Zhu"s 26-year-old Chinese indoor record in March 2013, clearing 2.32 m to become the outright record holder.