He is the son of film director, Zhang Huaxun.
Zhang grew up in Beijing, studied until 1988 at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong, from which he graduated with a degree in Chinese literature, and then went to the Central Academy of Drama, graduating in 1992.
[1] Zhang Yang uses a realistic style, and achieved great recognition for his 1999 independent production Xizao (洗澡; English translation: Shower), which was successful at Chinese box offices as well as international film festivals.
The actors in this unusual story about a real actor, Jia Hongsheng, and his struggle with drug addiction are Jia himself, Jia's parents, fellow inmates in a mental institution, the director, Zhang, and others playing themselves.
The relationship between parents and their grown children is as central to this film as it was in Shower.