Notwithstanding his retirement from the Bench in 2019, Judge Zhang remains one of the most senior, experienced, and respected Chinese judges. He specialises in civil and commercial disputes. Graduating from Renmin University of China (also known as the People’s University of China) with a PhD in Civil and Commercial law, he spent more than 40 years in the Chinese Judiciary before retiring as Senior Judge of First Ranking in the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China (“SPC”) in January 2020.
Judge Zhang held various judicial positions across civil and commercial areas of law being appointed as a judge to the SPC in 2000, and as Chief Judge of the First Civil Division in 2012 (judge in charge of civil cases in China). In 2014, he was appointed as Chief Judge of the Second Civil Division of the SPC, where he was responsible for domestic commercial cases. From 2015 to 2019, he was Chief Judge of the Fourth Civil Division of SPC, which deals with international commercial disputes and disputes relating to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Between 2013 and 2020, he was a member of the Adjudication Committee of the SPC which is the senior decision-making body within the Chinese courts supervising and guiding judicial operations.
As an expert in international commercial dispute resolution, Judge Zhang helped establish the China International Commercial Court serving as a Judge and Director.
Judge Zhang was a leading judge in judicial reform in China having been appointed in 2017 as Deputy Chief Judge of the First Circuit Court, the establishment of which was one of the fundamental structural reforms to the Chinese courts over the past 20 years.
He represented the Chinese judiciary in promoting judicial exchanges with other leading judiciaries including on the visit of Chinese Judges led by the Chief Justice to London in 2016, and the visit of the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales to China in April 2017. He led judges from China in establishing the first Expert Working Group on Commercial Dispute Resolution between the Chinese Judiciary and the UK Judiciary, which held meetings at a senior level in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Since his retirement in 2020, Judge Zhang has served as an arbitrator of leading arbitral institutions in China, including the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, and the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration. He was appointed as a member of International Commercial Expert Committee of the SPC in 2020 and serves as a part-time professor of international commercial law in the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL).
In January 2023 he was appointed as an International Judge to the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC). January 2023
