Born in Sichuan, Zhang was a lifelong learner in arts, from his early training of cloth dying in Japan, to mural paintings observations in Dunhuang, to his art exchanges with Picasso in Europe, allowing his art to flourish in styles and to further refine in terms of skills. His contribution in Chinese paintings was so rich that he was honored along with Huang Junbi and Pu Ru as the greatest overseas masters in Chinese Paintings. One of his most influential creation is Splash Paintings.