In 1900, he joined other Chinese students in Tokyo to form the anti-Manchu Qingnianhui (Youth society), and became friends with other revolutionaries, Zhang Binglin and Zou Rong, and was attracted by Japanese radicals such as the journalist Shūsui Kōtoku.

He spent the summer of 1908 in a rural anarchist commune in the north of France, the Colonie d'Aiglemont, where he milked cows and discussed anarchism with activists from many nations.

After several years of travel in Europe, the United States and Japan, Zhang became Sun's director of party affairs for North China in 1920.

After Sun's death in 1925, Zhang was elected to the State Council, and became associated with the group known as the Western Hills clique which convened in November 1925 to oppose communist influence.

In a famous incident in 1935, Zhang and Hu Hanmin saved Wang Jingwei from assassination by leaping to shield him from a bomb.