He was the Political Deputy Minister of Education from 22 October 2013 until 16 August 2014 with a brief stint as Minister of Education on 14–29 July 2014 after Chiang Wei-ling resigned due to alleged academic fraud.
[4] His appointment to Political Deputy Minister had also come in the wake of the sudden resignation of another predecessor, Chen I-hsing.
[5] Chen obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in 1983 and 1987, respectively, from National Taiwan Normal University.
He then became the Senior Specialist of the Council of Academic Reviewal and Evaluation in January 1994 until December 1997.
He then became the Senior Inspector and Executive Secretary of the Educational Research Committee in September 2002 until May 2004.