Zhang made his debut in the Freestyle World Cup on February 14, 2004 and immediately won his first World Cup points with 13th place in Harbin . One day later, she achieved the best result of the season with 7th place. As a result, she established herself in the midfield. On December 18, 2005, she achieved her first World Cup podium with second place in Changchun . In 2007 and 2008 she achieved another podium in Beida Lake and Moscow . At the Winter Asian Games 2007 in Changchun, she won the bronze medal.
After missing podium positions in the 2008/09 World Cup season, Zhang came third twice in the 2009/10 winter. Due to the strong internal team competition, however, she missed the qualification for the Olympic Winter Games. On December 17, 2010, she decided in Beida Lake for the first time a World Cup competition. She was also victorious at the 2011 Winter Asian Games in Almaty . Another World Cup victory came on February 11, 2012 in Beida Lake. In the 2012/13 World Cup winter, third place was her best result, while she finished 13th at the 2013 World Championships in Voss .
With a win in Beijing on December 21, 2013 and three other podium places, Zhang finished second in the Aerials discipline of the World Cup in the 2013/14 season. In view of these results, the 2014 Winter Olympics were rather disappointing with 13th place. Zhang was absent from the 2014/15 season and made a successful World Cup comeback the following winter 2015/16, with a second place in Beijing and a win in Deer Valley . In winter 2016/17 there were three top 10 results and 6th place at the 2017 World Championships in the Sierra Nevada . After the 2017/18 season was moderate, Zhang surprised at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games by winning the silver medal.
Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Zhang is the family name here, Xin is the first name.