 In 2005 he ran bests of 10.53 and 21.10 seconds in the sprints in his first international meeting in Tula, Russia.He placed in the top three in both events at the Chinese High School Games and came fifth over 200 m at the 2005 Chinese National Games.Zhang trained in the United States in early 2006 and later that year he won the Chinese junior title in the 200 m and was a semi-finalist in the event at the 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics held in Beijing.