Zhang Hanzhi became Mao Zedong's English teacher at a young age and went on to a career in China's diplomatic corps. She was a member of the Chinese delegation that traveled to New York in 1971 to take back the People's Republic's seat at the United Nations. She played a part in many of the high level political meetings that helped open China to the outside world, especially the U.S. And as The New York Times puts it, "Ms Zhang later wrote a best-selling memoir and became something of a celebrity in Beijing, where she was admired for her elegance, charm and perfect English." She also scandalized political circles in Beijing in the 1970s by divorcing her husband Hong Junyan and marrying Qiao Guanhua, who later became China's foreign minister.

Zhang is survived by her daughter Hong Huang (aka Hung Huang), who has written a small farewell note on her blog (in Chinese).

Zhang makes a brief appearance in Perpetual Motion, a film co-produced by and starring her daughter, and is also on screen for a few moments in this this Danwei TV interview in which Hong Huang talks about the film.