Zhang won three matches in the early part of the 2015/2016 season, but then lost seven in a row until he beat Joe Swail 10–7 in the first round of World Championship qualifying, before losing 10–3 to Matthew Stevens. He qualified for the 2016 Indian Open, World Open and Riga Masters but was knocked out in the first round of all of them. Later in the 2016–17 season he qualified for the German Masters by beating Mike Dunn 5–4 and Mark Davis 5–3 and he was beaten 5–3 by Stuart Bingham in the opening round.