The two-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist's previous singles victory came 603 days ago.
She tasted the winning feeling again with a hard-fought 7-6(5), 7-6(1) win over the 65th-ranked American McCartney Kessler.
Zhang, a former top-25 player, made the last eight of the Australian Open in 2016 and Wimbledon three years later. She has also won two Grand Slam doubles titles.
However, she has been plagued by injuries in recent times and is now ranked 595, entering the prestigious WTA 1000 event in the Chinese capital as a wildcard.
She will face sixth seed Emma Navarro in the second round in Beijing.
In the Open Era, only one player has ever lost more than 24 matches in a row on the tour, excluding the Billie Jean King Cup, the WTA said.
That came in the early days of the tour, when Madeleine Pegel lost her first 29 WTA matches from 1968 to 1972.
