Following the Xinhai Revolution, he was assigned command of an infantry regiment under the Republic of China; however, he supported Zhang Xun's abortive attempt to restore the Qing dynasty in 1917.

In early October 1931, shortly after the Mukden Incident at Taonan in the northwest of Liaobei province, Zhang—who was commander of the 2nd Provincial Defense Brigade—took command of the local forces including the Xing'an Reclamation Army and declared the district independent of China, in return for a shipment of a large quantity of military supplies by the Imperial Japanese Army.

Zhang followed up his political move by leading the men of the Xing'an Reclamation Army north to attack Gen. Ma Zhanshan, the newly appointed governor of Heilongjiang province.

He led Manchukouan troops against the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies during the Pacification of Manchukuo and in the Japanese invasion of Rehe in Operation Nekka.

After the collapse of Manchukuo in 1945, Chang went into hiding in Tianjin, but was discovered, tried and executed for treason by the People's Republic of China in 1949 in Beijing.