[5] Zhang made his international debut at the 2001 Summer Universiade in Beijing, where he was able to win gold medals in rings and in the team event.

[6] Zhang though was less than 18 years old at the time, not a college student, and thus in order to participate in the competition, the leadership let him pretend to be a freshman at Beijing Sports University.

[13][14] In June 2005 at the age of 21, he voluntarily retired from competition after receiving compensation and old-age insurance payments totaling RMB 38,000.

[12] The Criminal Investigation Branch of the Beijing Xuanwu Public Security Bureau managed to obtain camera footage of the crime and Zhang was sentenced to prison for three years and ten months.

[16] In July of the same year, a user posted a video on Sina Weibo showing Zhang begging in a public area then getting expelled by police.

[16][28][29] After being released from prison in March 2020, he announced on social media the creation of a charity, the "Bird's Nest Project", which aimed to donate 20,000 masks to health workers in their fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.