Zhi was born in Huairen County, Shanxi, in June 1953. During the late Cultural Revolution, he taught at Zhuangkuang Middle School, a middle school affiliated to the Datong Mining Bureau, since July 1971. He joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in March 1974. He eventually became secretary of the Youth League Committee of Datong Mining Bureau in September 1982. He served as deputy secretary of Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Youth League in June 1985, and later promoted to the secretary position in November 1990. In July 1994, he became the deputy head of the Organization Department of CCP Shanxi Provincial Committee, rising to the head position the next year. In July 1995, he was admitted to member of the standing committee of the CCP Shanxi Provincial committee, the province's top authority.
In October 1998, he was assigned to the similar position in the neighboring Henan province in 2015. He was deputy party chief of Henan in November 2000, and held that office until October 2005.
奔向新世纪的青年工作 [Youth Work towards the New Century] (in Chinese). Taiyuan, Shanxi: Shanxi People's Publishing House. 1996. ISBN9787203034582.
转型时期企业家成长的制度环境研究 [Research on the Institutional Environment of Entrepreneur Growth in the Transitional Period] (in Chinese). Beijing: Economic Science Press. 2005. ISBN9787505849648.