Chang Te-ch'eng was born into a family that has engaged in puppetry for six generations now and has carried on an unbroken heritage belonging to main stream of the Chaochow school of puppetry, which was brought to Taiwan from the south of China two centuries ago.
出生於皮影戲世家的張德成，他的皮影戲生涯相當於這一甲子的皮影戲傳奇，而張家一脈六代不曾中斷的傳承，則是中國南方皮影戲潮洲派從大陸到台灣的主流。