On February 16th, 2007, Dr. ZHANG Xu was awarded the 6th Shanghai Peony Award for his research on the neural plasticity of the dorsal root ganglion and spinal dorsal horn, and the mechanism of chronic pain.

The Peony Award was established in 2002 by the Shanghai City Council to encourage basic research in mathematics & physics, chemistry, information technology, material sciences & engineering, medicine and agriculture. It is awarded every two years to a maximum of six young scientists with exceptional contributions in the above-mentioned fields and working in the city of Shanghai.