There are no records on Chang's childhood,
but he was probably born at Wando island or its vicinity in
the second half of the 8th century and spent his childhood
there. After he grew to be an adult, he went to Tang in China
with his hometown junior Jeong Nyeon. At 30, he was appointed
to a military position, a junior commander for the Moo-Ryeong-Goon(Wu-Ning-Jun
in Chinese), regional army stationed in Xu Zhou. The title
of Beon-Jin(Fan-Zhen in Chinese, regional government) Moo-Ryeong(Wu-Ning)
was first used in 805; and the time that Chang went over to
Tang Dynasty and got the military position would have been
probably much later than the year 805. It is estimated that
he possibly went to Tang at around 810. Because he came back
to Shilla in 828, he was likely to have stayed at Tang for
18~20 years until the early part of the 9th century.
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Chang's Activities in China