China Democratic League
The China Democratic League was outlawed in 1947, after which Zhang was placed under house arrest in Shanghai. In the spring of 1949, he escaped with the aid of Chinese Communist Party agents and traveled to Beijing to assist in forming the new government. He headed the China Democratic League delegation to the first Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in September 1949, and was elected one of the Vice-chairmen of the Central People's Government after the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1. Zhang held this position until 1954, when the government was reorganized to have only one vice-chairman, at which time he was made a Vice Chair of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Zhang died of arteriosclerosis in February 1955 at the age of 84. He was survived by his wife, Liu Huicheng.