Zhang was born in
Shaoxing,
Zhejiang, in November 1944. He graduated from
Xi'an Jiaotong University with a mechanical engineering degree and became a senior engineer. He joined the
Chinese Communist Party in 1966 and rose to become the director of the Office for Northeast Economic Revitalization in 2004, and in 2007, the Director of the
National Energy Administration and Vice Chairman of the
National Development and Reform Commission. He left active politics in January 2011. He held a seat on the Standing Committee of the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference until retiring in 2013. Zhang died on 4 October 2019, aged 74. ==References==