In 1921 he arrived at Grinnell College together with fellow Nankai and Tsing Hua alum K. C. Wu and another fellow Tsing Hua alum C. T. Chao. Chang boarded with Professor Stoops at 1033 Park Street in Grinnell, where, according to Chang, a Grinnell faculty wife (presumably Mrs. Stoops) took care of household chores instead of hiring help. Chang’s comment caused widely shared amazement and admiration, not just in Grinnell but also in China, when the Tsing Hua alumni magazine Tsing Hua Weekly shared students’ impressions of the U.S. He also mentioned to fellow Tsing Hua alum K. C. Tsai, not without pride, that in Colorado Springs, where he attended summer school, an American praised “Grinnell College was very good” after learning where Chang went to college (Tsai 200). 

Chang participated in activities organized by the Chinese students on campus, such as their celebration in October 1922 of the founding of the Republic of China; he played the Chinese musical instruments “hsiao” and “two string,” forming a duet with T. C. Chao, and also told Chinese jokes in English (GH 10/10/1922). Chang also helped in the highly successful fund-raising dinner for Grinnell-in-China held in the local Congregational church in November 1922. He also played a part in a student drama production (SB 03/01/1922), alongside fellow Nankai and Tsing Hua alum K. C. Wu. Chang graduated from Grinnell in 1923 with a bachelor’s degree in English and history. 

He then attended Columbia University and reportedly earned a master’s degree there. In May 1924 more than one hundred Tsing Hua alumni congregated in New York City to celebrate the 13th anniversary of the founding of their alma mater. Chang played a role in Revue of 1921, a comedy put on by the Tsing Hua class of 1921 (Li 611). In 1924 Chang also served as the Treasurer for Nankai Alumni Association in the U.S., which grew from the Nankai Club first founded at Grinnell. However, in March 1925 he suffered from “nervous weakness” 精神衰弱 and was hospitalized in White Plains for a few months; someone else took over his position with the Nankai Alumni Association (Fang). 

By 1931 Chang had returned to China. He taught English literature at several institutions, such as Peking Normal University, Tsing Hua, Northeast University, and Hebei Industrial University. In April 1958 a C. M. Chang, “formerly Professor of Political Science [of] Nankai University,” presented a paper titled “Communist China in Asian Affairs” at the First Annual Roundtable Conference of the Institute of Ethnic Studies at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. We do not know when Chang passed away.