Fu Liang Chang, originally of Shanghai, China, first visited the United States as a student at Yale University on scholarship from the Boxer Indemnity Fund.  Upon graduation he married Louise H. Huie and returned to China to serve as professor and Dean of the Middle School Department of Yale-in-China, in Changsha from 1913 to 1926.  He was also involved with organizations such as: Chinese-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction (JCRR), The League of Nations, National Christian Council of China, and was the director of the Kiangsi Rural Welfare Service. Chang was very active in the rural reconstruction of his native country; however, at the advent of the Communist takeover in 1949, he was forced to flee the country and return to the United States.

Chang arrived in Berea in 1951 to teach in the Sociology Department and serve as an assistant to President Hutchins in the receiving of foreign visitors to the college. During the years 1952-1970 Berea, along with other Colleges and universities across the U.S., Chang participated in programs designed to inform visitors, primarily of the Third World, about projects relating to rural reconstruction.  Also included in the program were opportunities for the visitors to observe the college's work-study program and their efforts in aiding education in Appalachia. Dr. Chang and his wife, Louise, were responsible for making all local arrangements and often acted as official hosts to the visitors during their stay at Berea.