A widely arched furcula is present with slender and posteriorly curved clavicular rami.

The articulated tail has elongate rod-like extensions of the prezygaphophyses and chevrons characteristic of most dromaeosaurids, and these reach almost to the most anterior caudals.

Bone fusion in the scapula, vertebrae, coracoid, and tarsals suggest that the specimen is a mature adult weighing 0.31 kg (0.68 lb), making it one of the smallest known non-avian theropods thus far discovered.

[1] Zhongjianosaurus was first reported in 2009 when a new species based on a specimen consisting of a partial postcranial articulated skeleton was recovered from the lake deposits in Sihedang, Lingyuan County, in western Liaoning, China.

The genus and specific name honor Yang Zhongjian, China's founder of vertebrate paleontology.

The holotype specimen, labelled as IVPP V 22775, is currently housed in the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, in Beijing.

[1] Studies by Xu and Qin place Zhongjianosaurus in the Dromaeosauridae, and specifically the Microraptoria, based on its synapomorphies.

[2][3] The discovery of Zhongjianosaurus in the Yixian Formation, in addition to eight other dromaeosaurids suggests that there was a sufficient amount of niche partitioning.