Background
Nothing is known about Chang's background.
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Chang Yen
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At some later point in the war Chang was known to have been serving as dean of a military school (presumably in the New Fourth Army area), and then Japanese sources report him in 1940 as political commissar of a unit known as the Su-wan (Kiangsu-Anhwei) Column, subordinate to the New Fourth Army, which was com¬manded after 1941 by Ch’en I. It was probably about this time that Chang came to know Ch’en I, presently a Politburo member and the foreign minister, under whom Chang would serve for many years.
Career
Chang apparently remained in east-central China throughout the Sino-Japanese War and through the civil war with the Nationalists in the late 1940’s. He was still in this region in early 1950 when he was serving as secretary of the Communist Party “local work committee” for the Sung-chiang district, located in southern Kiangsu. When the Communists took power in 1949-1950, a few of the provinces were divided for administrative purposes. Kiangsu was one of these, being partitioned into North and South Kiangsu. By February 1951 Chang was already a member of the Party Committee for South Kiangsu area, and in that same month was appointed as a Land Reform Committee member for the South Kiangsu People’s Administrative Office (the name given to the governmental apparatus for South Kiangsu until the two portions were merged to form Kiangsu Province in November 1952). Kiangsu came under the jurisdiction of the larger governmental organization, the East China Military and Administrative Committee (ECMAC), renamed the East China Administrative Committee (ECAC) in December 1952. Under this organization, Chang served from February 1950 to June 1954 as a member of the Land Reform Committee, headed by T’an Chen-lin (who became a Party Politburo member in 1958).
By mid-1953 Chang was transferred to Shanghai, where he became secretary-general of the East China Bureau of the CCP; the bureau was then headed by Jao Shu-shih (purged in 1955), with Ch’en I as the Second Secretary. A Chinese familiar with Chang at this time has stated that he worked directly under Ch’en I and was considered to be his protégé. Chang remained in Shanghai until April 1955 when he was posted to Peking to become a deputy director of the Office of the Premier of the State Council, an administrative office designed to serve the needs of the premier. Interestingly, this appointment came soon after Ch’en I was appointed a vice-premier (September 1954), after which he spent most of his time in the capital. Chang held the position until April 1958 by which time he had received a far more important post.
Until early 1956, there was nothing in Chang’s career to suggest future work in foreign relations. Nonetheless, he was to spend most of the next several years in this field. His first appointment in this line of work came in February 1956 when he was appointed as a member of the newly founded Asian Solidarity Committee of China (renamed “Afro-Asian” in 1958). In November of that year, Chou En-lai embarked on an extended goodwill tour of Southeast Asia. It was clear that the Chinese were concerned about the bad image created by the Russians during the Hungarian Revolt and were anxious to portray a “softer” image as represented by Peking. From mid-November to January 1957, the delegation (of which Chang was a member) toured North Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Burma, and Pakistan. Chang again accompanied Chou (as well as Ch’en I) on another important mission in February 1958 when Chou and Ch’en visited Pyong-yang for the purpose of negotiating the withdrawal of the Chinese Army from Korea, where it had remained since the end of the Korean War in mid-1953.
Just prior to the mission to North Korea, the State Council had created a new organ under its jurisdiction, the Foreign Affairs Office, headed by Foreign Minister Ch'en I and apparently charged with coordinating the work of foreign affairs (including the work done by the Foreign Ministry). In March 1958 Chang was named as one of the deputy directors; the stature of the other three deputy directors, Liao Ch’eng-chih, Liu Ning-i, and K’ung Yuan, was sufficient to illustrate the importance of this new organ of government. In the following month Chang was removed as a deputy director of the Office of the Premier. As a result of this transfer, Chang was once again working directly under Ch’en I. Apart from this government post, Chang holds two quasi-official posts related to foreign affairs. He was named to the Standing Committee of the China Peace Committee in July 1958, and to the Executive Council of the China-Africa People’s Friendship Association, established in April 1960.
Membership
In 1960 and 1961 Chang made two additional trips abroad, one with both Chou En-lai and Ch’en I and the other with Ch’en alone. The 1960 trip took place in April-May and was concerned chiefly with settling border disputes with neighboring countries. The nations visited were Burma, India, and Nepal and then after, returning briefly to south China the two men visited Cambodia and Vietnam.
May 1961 Chang accompanied Foreign Minister Ch’en I as member and, concurrently, secretary-general of the delegation to the Geneva Conference on Laos. When it became apparent that the conference would be prolonged, Ch’en left for home in July, taking Chang Yen with him; Chang Han-fu remained behind to head the delegation. Ch’en I returned to Geneva for the final stages of the conference in July 1962, but Chang Yen did not accompany him. Since that time Chang has been mentioned in the national press mainly in connection with visiting dignitaries, especially those from Laos. In 1964 he was elected as a Shantung deputy to the Third NPC, which held its first session in December 1964-January 1965.
Connections
Little is known of his personal life aside from the fact that he was married by at least 1962.
Career
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1950 - 1954
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February, 1951
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1956