Born in Shanghai, China, HuaFang Zhang received her ballet training at Beijing Academy of Dance.

After graduation, she joined National Ballet of China in 1980 as First Soloist and then joined the Hong Kong Ballet where she served as Principal Dancer between 1987 and 1989. Her dancing repertoire includes the lead roles in Piotr Gusev’s Swan Lake and le Corsaire, Anton Dolin’s Giselle and Nutcracker, Lycette Darsonval’s Sylvia, Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote, Norman Walker’s Romeo and Juliet, Kenneth Macmillan’s The Sleeping Beauty and Piano Concerto No 2, Ben Stevenson’s Five poems, Marius Petipa’s La Bayadere and Monica Parker’s version of Raymonda Act III.

In 1989 she became Principal Dancer of Les Ballet Jazz de Montréal, collaborating with choreographers such as Crystal Pite and James Kudelka, Mauricio Wainrot, Jennifer Muller, Mia Michaels, and Ulysses Dove. HuaFang worked with LaLaLa Human Steps as the rehearsal director for Amelia, a film by choreographer Édouard Lock.

Since 1998, she served as ballet mistress with Les Ballet Jazz de Montréal, LaLaLa Human Steps and National Ballet of China between 2005 and 2010. In 2012 she was appointed Ballet Mistress with the English National Ballet in London. There she worked on all classical full-length ballets as well as contemporary productions from John Cranko, William Forsythe, Kenneth MacMillan, Christopher Wheeldon, and Akram Khan. Huafang has also been a guest teacher at schools and companies in China, England, Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico and Finland.

In 2020 Huafang Zhang joined European School of Ballet as Teacher/Ballet Mistress