Li Changchun
In 1997, Zhang became party chief of Shenzhen. By the fall of that year he was named an alternate member to the 15th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. In 1998, he was made deputy provincial party chief of Guangdong while holding onto his municipal leadership position in Shenzhen. He served under then-provincial party chief Li Changchun and alongside executive vice governor Wang Qishan. During this time it was said that he received praise from Jiang Zemin. He was also said to have frequently visited and tended to the needs of party veteran Xi Zhongxun, the father of Xi Jinping. In 1999 Zhang was named a visiting professor of macroeconomics at the prestigious Tsinghua University and also an honorary president and professor at his alma mater Xiamen University.