He served as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs from August 1984 to October 1989, and the Chinese Ambassador to the United States from 1989 to 1993.

He graduated from St. John's University, Shanghai in 1948 and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the newly established People's Republic of China in November 1949.

He served at the Chinese embassy in Egypt from 1972 to 1973, and as charge d'affaires at the Chinese embassy in Canberra, Australia from 1973 until 1977, when he was appointed director of the America and Oceania Division, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing.

In 1979 Zhu accompanied Deng Xiaoping in the Chinese leader's historic visit to the United States.

[1] In 1985 Zhu was appointed Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, and from 1989 to 1993 was China's Ambassador to the United States.