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Yao Chang (; 331–394), courtesy name Jingmao (景茂), also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Wuzhao of Later Qin (後秦武昭帝), was the founding emperor of the Qiang led Chinese Later Qin dynasty. His father Yao Yizhong had been a powerful general and Qiang chieftain under the Later Zhao emperor Shi Hu, but after Later Zhao's collapse after Shi Hu's death, Yao Chang's older brother Yao Xiang tried to start an independent state but was defeated and killed by Former Qin forces. Yao Chang became a Former Qin general, but after an incident in 384 after the Former Qin emperor Fu Jiān's defeat at the Battle of Fei River, Yao Chang feared that Fu Jiān would kill him and therefore rebelled. He subsequently captured and killed Fu Jiān, who had saved his life when Yao Xiang was defeated, causing many historians to view him as a traitor and murderer.

Yao Chang was born in 331, while his father Yao Yizhong (姚弋仲), a major Qiang chief, was a general under the Later Zhao emperor Shi Le. He was the 24th of Yao Yizhong's 42 sons. He was described as intelligent and deliberate, but uninterested in detail matters. After Later Zhao's collapse, Yao Yizhong submitted to Jin Dynasty (266–420) as a vassal, and, after he died in 351, his son Yao Xiang took over his troops and headed south to submit to Jin command. After realizing that the Jin general Yin Hao was greatly suspicious of him, however, Yao Xiang rebelled in 352 and ambushed Yin, and then occupied the cities in the Luoyang region (although not Luoyang itself), intending on establishing himself as the ruler of the region. During this time, Yao Chang served as one of his strategists. In a battle in 352, Yao Xiang's horse was killed, and Yao Chang yielded his horse to Yao Xiang—telling Yao Xiang that as long as he was still alive, the enemy would not dare to touch Yao Chang. However, as they were still discussing, they were rescued by their troops. However, before Yao Xiang could strengthen his rule over the region, the Jin general Huan Wen attacked him in 356 and defeated him, capturing cities that he held and forcing him to abandon the plans to establish himself in the region. Instead, He was forced to advanced northwest and then west to face Former Qin, ruled by the ethnically Di emperor Fu Sheng. In 357, Yao Xiang advanced into Former Qin territory, and a number of Qiang, Xiongnu, and Han submitted themselves to him. Fu Sheng sent a force commanded by Fu Huangmei (苻黃眉), Fu Dao (苻道), Fu Jiān, and Deng Qiang to resist him. Initially, Yao Xiang refused to engage them, but after Deng openly insulted him, Yao attacked and fell into a trap and was captured and killed. Yao Chang took over his troops but knew he could not resist, and so surrendered. Initially, Fu Huangmei wanted to execute Yao Chang, but at Fu Jiān's intercession, Yao Chang was spared.

In 357, Fu Jiān overthrew the cruel and whimsical Fu Sheng (who had, in addition to many others, put Fu Huangmei to death even after his great victory) and took the throne himself. Sometime early in his reign, Fu Jiān made Yao Chang a general. The first campaign in which he was mentioned by name was in 366, when he assisted Wang Meng in an attack on Jin's Jing Province (荊州, modern Hunan and central and southern Hubei). In 367, he again assisted Wang Meng in attacking the rebels in modern eastern Gansu, who were led by the Qiang general Lian Qi (斂岐), whose subordinates were originally all Yao Yizhong's subordinates and therefore surrendered to him readily. Fu Jiān made him the governor of Longdong Commandery (隴東, roughly modern Baoji, Shaanxi). In 371, he was part of the campaign against Chouchi's ruler Yang Cuan (楊篡), and in 373, after Former Qin seized the modern Sichuan, Chongqing, and southern Shaanxi from Jin, Yao Chang was made the governor of Ning Province (寧州, modern southern Sichuan). In 376, Yao Chang also assisted Gou Chang (苟萇) in Former Qin's conquest of Former Liang, and in 378 involved in the sieged against the Jin city Xiangyang (襄陽, in modern Xiangfan, Hubei). Sometime during Fu Jiān's reign, he created Yao Chang the Marquess of Yidu. In 383, Fu Jiān prepared a major attack on Jin, intending to destroy it and unite China. Yao Chang was one of the few generals who was in favor of the plan, as the vast majority of Fu Jiān's subordinates opposed, including his brother and prime minister Fu Rong—who specifically was suspicious of Yao Chang and Murong Chui (a general with Former Yan imperial ancestry), neither of whom was of Di ancestry and both of whom favored the attack on Jin. Fu Jiān proceeded with the plan despite Fu Rong's opposition, making Fu Rong the commander of the main invasion force. Yao Chang was put in charge of the armies of the southwest (on a separate front away from the main front), and as Fu Jiān was handing out the command assignments, he gave Yao Chang the title General Longxiang (龍驤將軍) a title that he himself carried previously when he overthrew Fu Sheng—and he commented, apparently in a jocular tone:

Before, I established my rule as the General Longxiang. I do not easily confer this title on others. You should take good care of the title. Another general, Dou Chong, immediately objected, stating that it is a bad omen for the emperor to joke, and Fu Jiān grew briefly silent. Later that year, against the much weaker Jin troops, Fu Rong's forces were nevertheless defeated at the Battle of Fei River—a battle that Yao Chang was not involved in—and Fu Rong was killed. In early 384, Murong Chui rebelled in the eastern empire, hoping to reestablish Yan, and upon hearing Murong Chui's rebellion, Murong Chui's nephew Murong Hong rebelled as well, near the Former Qin capital Chang'an. Fu Jiān sent his brother Fu Rui (苻叡) against Murong Hong, assisted by Yao Chang. Yao Chang advocated letting Murong Hong, who was intent on leaving the Guanzhong region to return to his homeland, leave, but the brash Fu Rui insisted on intercepting Murong Hong, and was defeated and killed by Murong Hong. Yao Chang sent messengers Zhao Du (趙都) and Jiang Xie (姜協) to report the bad news to Fu Jiān—and Fu Jiān, inexplicably, executed Zhao and Jiang in anger. Yao Chang became fearful and abandoned his troops, gathered the Qiang of the region, and rebelled himself, claiming the title of "King of Qin of 10,000 Years" (萬年秦王), thus establishing Later Qin.

Yao Chang initially opted to keep his troops mobile, as he anticipated Murong Hong's Western Yan forces to siege Chang'an and destroy Former Qin and then depart for their homeland, so that he could take Chang'an without major engagements. In doing this, he hoped to conserve and increase his strength while his rivals battled. He therefore temporarily placed his capital at Beidi (北地, in modern Tongchuan, Shaanxi), seizing the cities of the modern northern Shaanxi. Despite this, he had periodic battles with Former Qin and Western Yan forces, as Former Qin and Western Yan also battled each other. In 385, an incident involving the city of Xinping (新平, in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi) helped to further establish Yao Chang's reputation as wily and treacherous. The people of Xinping had fought extremely hard to preserve their city for Former Qin when Yao Chang first started sieging the city in late 384. Eventually, when Xinping ran out of food supplies and military equipment, Yao Chang assured the governor of Xinping commandery, Gou Fu (苟輔), that if he yielded the city, he would be allowed to safely lead the people of Xinping to Chang'an. Gou believed him, but as soon as he exited the city with the 5,000 remaining people, Yao Chang surrounded them with his troops and slaughtered them all, with only a single person who escaped. In fall 385, Fu Jiān abandoned Chang'an, long under siege by Western Yan, and he sought to try to find food supplies. When he arrived at Wujiang Mountain (五將山, in modern Baoji, Shaanxi), Yao Chang sent his general Wu Zhong (吳忠) to surround Fu Jiān, eventually capturing him and delivering him to Xinping to be imprisoned there. Yao Chang tried to persuade him to ceremonially pass the throne to him, but Fu Jiān, angry at Yao's betrayal, refused. Later in 385, Yao sent his soldiers to strangle Fu Jiān. Even Later Qin soldiers mourned Fu Jiān, however, and Yao, in order to pretend as if he did not put Fu Jiān to death, posthumously honored him as Heavenly King Zhuanglie (壯烈天王). Western Yan forces, under its now emperor Murong Chong, occupied Chang'an, and Western Yan and Later Qin battled on and off. However, the Western Yan people were unhappy that Murong Chong was not leading them back to their homeland in the east, and, in 386, Murong Chong was assassinated in a coup and replaced with Duan Sui, who was then assassinated and replaced with Murong Yi, under whom the Western Yan people abandoned Chang'an and headed east. Briefly, Chang'an was held by the Xiongnu chief Hao Nu (郝奴), but Yao Chang then advanced on Chang'an, and Hao surrendered. Yao Chang made Chang'an his capital and claimed the title of emperor. He created his wife Lady She as empress and his son Yao Xing as crown prince.