He completed his elementary school education in the Chongwen District in Beijing before joining the Children's Cultural Palace to practice singing.

[citation needed] During the fifth grade, Zhang became a member of the China Central Television (CCTV) Yinhe Teenage Art Troupe after passing its audition.

The Yinhe Teenage Art Troupe has produced many superstars in the contemporary Chinese pop music world, including Faye Wong, Cai Guoqing, Wang Xuechun and Liu Chunyan.

[citation needed] In January 1999, The Flowers signed with a small Beijing-based Chinese independent label, New Bees Music, and released their first album, On the Other Side of Happiness.

The album won numerous awards in China and sold some 200,000 copies in the forty days after its release.

He performed the song at China Central TV's Spring Festival Gala, a show viewed by Chinese audiences at home and abroad.

[12][better source needed][non-primary source needed] In this show he brought forward the concept of CDM—China Dance Music, encouraging musicians to create music using their own ethnic style, rather than forgetting their own cultural identity in following international trends.

[citation needed] His 2018 song, Am a Popping Candy, combines EDM with traditional Yunnan ethnic style and Shandong clapper talk, an ancient storytelling music performance.

[citation needed] His 2018 song "Sunshine, Rainbow, White Pony" gained popularity in Western media after becoming an internet meme because of its chorus, containing the phrase "內个 (nèi ge)", which sounds like the racial slur nigga.

[citation needed] Zhang's early influence came from the bands Green Day and Sex Pistols.