His cursive script, together with Li Bai's poems and Pei Min's sword dance, was called "Three Musts" at that time. According to legend, he is a heavy drinker and often shouts "crazy" before writing, or writes with his head soaked in ink, calling himself "Zhang Dian". Because Zhang Xu was addicted to alcohol, Du Fu listed him as the "Eight Immortals of Drinking".
His six poems are quatrains describing natural scenery, which are novel in conception, far-reaching in artistic conception and unique in style. Among Zhang Xu's poems, the complete works of Tang poetry include boating in Qingxi, Peach Blossom Creek, Traveling in the Mountain, Spring outing is worth the rain, Spring Grass Willow and so on.
Zhang Xu is good at writing seven-character quatrains. His greatness lies in that he can describe what others can only describe in a few simple poems. For example, Tan Tangtuishi (Sun Zhu), the editor of Peach Blossom Creek and 300 Tang Poems in Qing Dynasty, commented on this poem and said, "Four sentences are worth a peach blossom garden.