Chang Hsüeh-ch'eng (1738–1801) was a Chinese scholar and historian of China's coastal province of Chekiang. His father and his grandfather had been government officials, but, although Chang achieved the highest civil service examination degree in 1778, he never held high office.
Chang Hsüeh-ch'eng’s ideas about the historical process were revolutionary in many ways and he became one of the most enlightened historical theorists of the Ch'ing dynasty; but, he spent much of his life in near poverty without the support of a patron and, in 1801, he died, poor and with few friends. It was not until the late 19th century that Chinese scholars began to accept the validity Chang's ideas.