He was born in Xinjian (新建), Jiangxi to a family of officials. He studied music in Jiangxi Provincial Higher Normal School (江西省立高等師範學校), and the Ueno Music Academy (上野音樂學院) in Tokyo. He majored in violin, then music theory, and composition. In 1928, his submission of the melody of "Three Principles of the People" was chosen. In 1947, he travelled to Taiwan for the first time, where Hsiao Er-hua (蕭而化 Xiāo Érhuà), head of the College of Music in the Taiwan Provincial Normal University, offered Ch'eng Mao-yün a position, but he refused. He never returned to Taiwan again and died at the age of 34, reputedly killed by the Chinese Communist government because of his contribution to the Kuomintang.
The official university song of the National Central University, now on Taiwan, is also composed by Ch'eng Mao-yün.
His wife and son are also muscians. Zhang Yongzhen (张咏真), Ch'eng's wife, is a piano professor at the Xi'an Music Academy. His son, Zhang Jiannan (张坚男) (born 1945) is a composer.