[2] Zhang's grandfather was a "Sue Beach" (苏滩, Suzhou Tanhuang (Kun opera's sister art form)) artist.
One of Shanghai "Chuan Generation" (传字辈)—Zheng Chuanjian (郑传鉴) was invited to rehearse The Cowherd and The Weaving Maid (牛郎织女) and this was the first time that Zhang received influence from Kunqu predecessors.
Unexpectedly, seeking refuge with her aunt because of poverty, Zhang inadvertently began her life as an artist.
[6] After 1958, she concentrated most of her time on Kunqu and received instruction from some experts such as Shen Chuanzhi, Yao Chuanxiang, and Yu Xihou.
Her representative dramas are The Peony Pavilion, The Divorce of Chu Mai-sen (also Pingyin as: Zhu Maichen) (Chinese: 朱买臣), etc.
[11] This visit was the first time for Kunqu, this ancient form of theater, to go abroad as an independent group after the founding of People's Republic of China.
[13] After a commercial performance in Japan, Zhang Jiqing went to France to participate in Festival d'automne à Paris.
In December 1993, Zhang Jiqing, together with her husband Yao Jikun, went to Korea to participate in the Seoul Art Festival and performed the Divorce of Chu Mai-sen.
In 1998, Zhang Jiqing cooperated with a famous Japanese Kyōgen actor, Mansaku Nomura to perform a traditional Chinese play named the Jade Hairpin (玉簪记) in Tokyo.
[14] Invited by Pai Hsien-yung, Zhang Jiqing became the art director of the Peony Pavilion of the youth version in 2003.