He commenced his training of martial art in elementary school during the Japanese colonial period studying kendo and judo as well has the Southern Shaolin style of Crane Boxing passed down within his family.

His first exposure to internal martial art was Yang style Taijiquan under Master Tu (Chinese: 涂師傅), a Taiwanese teacher who had studied in Mainland China.

Initially, Chang was met with resistance from mainlanders on Taiwan who objected to his teaching the secrets of internal martial arts to native Taiwanese such as Hung.

[4]: 3, 6–8 With the mass exodus of mainland Chinese to Taiwan in 1949, the Hung family compound became known as a refuge for destitute martial artists.

In the 1970s, Hung's Tang Shou Tao school reportedly had well over 200 students, including people foreigners from outside of Taiwan.

[5]: 48 Hung I-Hsiang internal arts training program included xingyiquan, baguazhang and taijiquan, Shaolin kung fu, and qigong.