Lin Zhao
Zhang along with a fellow Clique member Gu Yan and Lin Zhao discussed issues before Zhang returned to Gansu. It was during these talks that Lin Zhao discovered from the firsthand accounts by Zhang the starvation and cannibalism that was happening as a result of the devastation in Gansu Province, about where 1 in 3 of the villagers around Tianshui had died and Zhang has seen human flesh for sale. A fellow Peking University Rightist Lui Faqing had been sent to Gansu, and was starving to death. Lin Zhao having learned of the situation there, sent 35 Jin (about 40lb) of grain ration coupons to him as a result of learning this, saving his life.