Zhang was born into a family that owned a pharmacy in Chaoyi County (now Zhaoyi Town), Shaanxi, in October 1889.

[1][2] At the age of 18, he attended Hongdao Academy, one of the earliest modern schools established in Shaanxi, where he studied alongside Wu Mi.

[1][2] In 1913, he pursued advanced studies in the United States, obtaining a master's degree in political science from Columbia University in 1919.

[1] In June 1949, Zhang was appointed as deputy director of the newly established North China Higher Education Commission.

[3] In 1957, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party launched the "Rectification Movement", he gave Mao Zedong an evaluation: "Great achievements, eager for quick success, disdainful of the past, superstitious about the future."