When Chang was a student he was very active in politics, and joined the Chinese Revolutionary Party.

He married a French woman, Suzanne Grimonprez, in 1928 although he had met and admired Jiang Biwei, but she was the partner of the artist Xu Beihong.

[3] In 1937, he was exchanging letters with Jiang Biwei who was now single, as her partner had fallen for his student, the painter Sun Duoci.

Chang knew that the Japanese were thought to be about to bomb Nanjing and he arranged for Jiang Biwei to escape to Chongqing.

Chinese students who had brought back foreign wives were considered foolish.

From December 7, 1932 to April 8, 1936, Chang was the Executive Vice-minister of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in China.