Zhang Yi, Han nationality, is a native of Bei'an city, Heilongjiang province. He was born in 1950, entered the work force in 1969 and joined the CPC in 1972. In 1984, Zhang graduated from Northeast College of Forestry with an Associate Degree. Zhang held leading positions in the CPC Greater Hinggan Mountain (Daxing'anling mountain range) Prefectural Committee, where he was deputy secretary until 1986. He was secretary of the Hebei Provincial CPC Commission for Discipline Inspection from 2001 to 2006.
He was a member of the 16th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and a deputy secretary of the 17th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection from 2007 to 2010. In 2010 he became Secretary of the CPC Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regional Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region People's Congress.
He is a Member of the 18th CPC Central Committee and from 2013 to 2016 he was Director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.