[2] Born in Tianjin, China in April 1892, he was the younger brother of Chang Po-ling, the founder of Nankai University.

After graduating, he returned to China and became a professor teaching and performing theater at Nankai University in Tianjin, where he also taught philosophy and became a notable scholar of Chinese traditional drama.

He was a playwright, musician, diplomat; a lover of traditional Chinese literature and music and someone who knew both Western and Islamic culture.

[8] At the first meeting of United Nations Economic and Social Council he quoted Mencius stating that ECOSOC's highest aim should be to "nourish people with goodness" so that the world can be subdued.

"In the 18th century, when progressive ideas with respect to human rights had been first put forward in Europe, translations of Chinese philosophers had been known to, and had inspired, such thinkers as Voltaire, Quesnay and Diderot in their humanistic revolt against feudalism," he told the UN General Assembly in 1948.

[10] On the Universal Declaration of Human Rights drafting committee, he served both as an effective Asian delegate and also as a mediator when the negotiations reached a stalemate.