Chang was born in 1916 to a cultured family in Taipei. His elder brother, Chang Wei-hsien, was a renowned dramatist who has been called "Taiwan's first man of the new theater."
他生長在一個文化氣息濃厚的家境中，唯一的兄長是大他十一歲的哥哥張維賢，這位被後代文藝界稱為「新劇台灣第一人」的話劇運動改革者，當時就讓他十二歲的弟弟上台參與演戲。