Kaohsiung Incident
Chang was born in 1938 in the city of Kagi (present-day Chiayi) when Taiwan (then Formosa) was still a colony of Japan. He earned his LL.B. at the National Taiwan University in 1960. Chang joined the Kuomintang in 1970, but was expelled three year later for mounting a campaign for the Taipei City Council. As a lawyer, he defended the victims of the Kaohsiung Incident in 1980. From 1982 to 1986 he was President of the Kaohsiung Chapter of the YMCA.