Born in 1916 in the Dadaocheng area of Taipei City, Chang Tsai (1916-1995) had an older brother, Chang Wei-hsian, who was passionately committed to Taiwan’s New Culture Movement. Chang Tsai’s childhood was filled with memories of taking the stage to act in the “Drama Study Society” that his brother founded, and traveling far and wide to join in interesting events. This also awoke in him a sense of concern and empathy for the lives of ordinary people.
In 1934, his brother arranged for him to study photography in Japan, where he relied on some friends his brother had made at the Tsukiji Little Theatre, who were of an avant-garde frame of mind and were advocates of “New Photography.” With an introduction from these friends, he switched enrollment to the Musashino School of Photography under the direction of Senichi Kimura, and after graduating, continued his studies at the Kudou School of Photography, which specialized in portraiture.
In 1936 he returned to Taiwan, and opened the Ying Xin Photography Studio on Taiyuan Road in Taipei City. Between 1942 and 1946, Chang Tsai traveled back and forth between Taipei and Shanghai three times, and with his Leica camera he documented the urban street scenes of Shanghai during that era. This series of photos not only exhibited an extremely high degree of artistry, but also filled in a blank space in the photographic history of China during the 1940s.