[1] Zhang Wannian was born in Huang County (now Longkou), Shandong Province of China on 1 August 1928.

It was reported that due to combat success of the 127th Division in inflicting massive casualties on Vietnamese forces during the war, Vietnam sought to capture Zhang alive.

[6] In 1992, he became a member of CCP's Central Military Commission (CMC) and the director as well as the secretary of the party of the General Staff Department of PLA.

As expected, both were elected as the executive vice Chairmen of the CMC at the 15th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

[1] He was a deputy to CCP's 9th National Congress, and an alternative member of 12th and 13th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.