He joined the Eighth Route Army and the Chinese Communist Party during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and served as China's Minister of the Electronics Industry from 1982 to 1983.
Zhang was born 11 September 1922 into an affluent farmer and merchant family in Xin County (now Xinfu District), Shanxi, China.
In September 1943, he was tasked with manufacturing weapons including grenades and land mines in the Shandong Military District, which was surrounded by Japanese-occupied territory.
He was tasked with developing new types of ammunition to supply the People's Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War.
In February 1963, he was appointed Director of Planning in the Fourth Ministry of Machine Building, which oversaw China's electronics industry.