He spent 25 years as an engineering professor at Zhejiang University and won two national science and technology awards, before entering politics and being sent to Hong Kong in 1985 to prepare for the British colony's return to China.
After the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong on 1 July 1997, Zhang returned to Zhejiang University to serve as its Party Secretary.
After the delay caused by the Cultural Revolution, it was put into production in the 1970s and won a National Science and Technology Prize (second class) in 1982.
[2] He co-founded the laser program at Zhejiang University in 1973 and won another National Science and Technology Prize (second class) for a solar spectrometer, for which he designed the mechanical components.
Zhang accused Patten of violating the Sino-British agreement and called him "a prostitute who still wanted an arch to be erected to honour her as a chaste woman".
He reportedly gave the go-ahead for the Wen Wei Po, Beijing's mouthpiece in Hong Kong, to publish an editorial with only four words: "deep grief" and "bitter hatred" after the government crackdown,[1] but survived the ensuing purge of officials who supported political reform.
[1] He dismissed the Occupy Central with Love and Peace movement in 2014 and criticized its pro-democracy leaders for having "never done anything good for Hong Kong".