A native of Hainan, Chan was a Midshipman in Canton city (now "Guangzhou") during the final years of the Qing Dynasty when he became a committed republican.

At the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War Chan was given the additional position of Commander of the Fortresses of Humen; during a battle there in 1938 his left leg was wounded which eventually necessitated its amputation.

On 8 December 1941 the Battle of Hong Kong began; on Christmas Day the Governor, Sir Mark Aitchison Young, informed Chan of his intention to surrender to the Japanese.

In Aberdeen Harbour he and his entourage boarded the motor launch Cornflower II; while on the way to a rendezvous with the torpedo boats waiting south of Ap Lei Chau it was fired upon by Japanese forces.

He died in Guangzhou on 31 August 1949, during the final weeks of the Chinese Civil War, officially from a stomach ulcer, although there was speculation that he was poisoned by agents of Chiang Kai-Shek.