Born in Changchow, Fukien in 1934 (his ID shows 1935), he moved to Keelung with his parents when he was 4 years old. During WWII, he evacuated with his mother to Jiaoxi, Yilan.
He attended Taipei County Toucheng Junior High School (National Toucheng Vocational High School, today) and was admitted to Taiwan Provincial Hualien Normal School in junior high. After graduating in 1956, he was assigned to work as a teacher at his alma mater, Jiaoxi Elementary School. He married You Ah-wang and had four sons.
In 1967, he was arrested on accused of making inappropriate remarks such as “Tien Long-ke, an anti-Communist activist was a coward, not a patriot, lacking a sense of nationalism.” In February 1968, he was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months of fixed-term imprisonment. In December, the sentence was finalized, and he was given 3 years of reformatory education.
He refused to accept the verdict and appealed many times and was eventually sentenced to 3 years of reformatory education.
After being released in 1971, he returned to teaching and served as a teacher in many elementary schools in Yilan. He retired in 1997 and was awarded the title of Senior Outstanding Teacher in 2014. On September 25, 2025, Chang Fo-shu passed away at the age of 91.