In response to the negative press surrounding working conditions in Chinese factories, Chang decided to explore the subject from the perspective of the workers. In 2004 she traveled to the South Central China factory city of Dongguan to document the lives of Wu Chunming and Lu Qingmin, two migrant workers who were born to poor farming families. The book follows their lives over three years and also includes the author's own family history of migration within China and to the West.

Factory Girls was named one of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2008 and also received the 2009 PEN USA Literary Award for Research Nonfiction and the Asian American Literary Award for nonfiction. According to Chang's website, translations are forthcoming in French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Finnish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Arabic.

Chang graduated from Harvard College in 1991. Her husband is author Peter Hessler.