Zhang joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1928 after taking part in a communist-led rural uprising.

During World War II Zhang commanded a guerrilla band sent to rescue U.S. flight crews who crash landed in China following the April 1942 Tokyo bombing raid led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle.

[citation needed] Zhang supervised the Two Bombs, One Satellite project and successfully directed the development of China's nuclear deterrent.

"[citation needed] He reappeared in 1973 and chaired the Defense Technology Commission of the People's Liberation Army.

During this time he attempted to rein in poor quality from armament factories by reestablishing government oversight over facilities which had been taken over by unsupervised workers.

A biography of him by his son, PLA senior colonel Zhang Sheng, recorded the first of such incidents, when Zhang went to investigate the rocket gyroscope manufacturer Factory 230 which had become infamous for poor quality, which caused abnormally high accident rates in launch tests and notably two reconnaissance satellites being lost: The facilities were a mess.

Others are cleaning toilets and such.” Qiu Jinchun who went with father said: “In one room thick cobwebs hung from the walls to the door.

He said “What a great solution, how about let everyone wear straw hats to work in the future!”... Trash was in piles, cars entering and exiting drove all over them.

The bathroom’s water flowed from the fifth floor to the first, and no one in charge or responsible could be found.Zhang submitted a report on the conditions of the factory to the state council, which called a meeting on the subject.

[citation needed] During the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, Zhang Aiping signed a letter opposing the enforcement of martial law by the Army in Beijing.