In the autumn of 1993, he played the role of his father, Liu Lingtong, in the TV series “Monkey Child (猴娃), for which he won the 12th Golden Eagle Award for the best supporting actor in China.

In 2000, he starred in the ancient mythological drama "Journey to the West II", for which he won the National Top Ten Outstanding Actor Award from CCTV.

[3] In 2009, he acted in the historical drama "War and Peace in the North" (北平战与和).2015, acted in the ancient mythological drama "Shi Dang Dang Zhi Xiong Ceng Tian Dong“ (石敢当之雄峙天东)。 In 2017, he was awarded as a national actor；In the same year he played the role of Master Xuanzang in the documentary "One Belt, One Road - Retracing the Road of Xuanzang" (一带一路·重走玄奘路) and was the chief producer and director of the documentary, which won the Best Documentary Award at the Vancouver International Chinese Film Festival; In recent years, Zhang has made great efforts promoting Sun Wukong in popular culture, which contributed to increasing the popularity of both the classic novel and the character around the world.

His family members, who are Peking opera actors, specialized in playing the role of the Monkey King (Sun Wukong), the protagonist of the classical novel Journey to the West.

His specialty was Sun Wukong, gaining him the nickname "Monkey King of the South"; another actor, Li Wanchun, was better known in northern China.

Zhang's uncle, who specialized in playing Zhu Bajie, had the stage name "Qi Ling Tong" (七龄童; 七齡童; Qī Líng Tóng; 'Seven Year Old Child').

As a dedication to the memory of his elder brother, Zhang put great effort into playing the role of Sun Wukong well.

[7] Zhang gained international fame for his starring role as the Monkey King (Sun Wukong) in the 1986 television series Journey to the West, adapted from the classic Chinese novel of the same title.