 After graduating from Tisch with a Master of Fine Arts degree in film production, she went back to China to work alongside her father Zhang Yimou on some of his films.After gaining credit as an editor on the films "Under the Hawthorn Tree" and "A Simple Noodle Story" Zhang was given the role of assistant director on her fathers Hollywood blockbuster "The Flowers of War".In 2016 Zhang directed her first film "Suddenly Seventeen", a film about 28-year-old woman who turns into the 17-year-old version of herself.