Enlisting in a warlord's army at the age of 13, Chen Geng joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1922 and was accepted into Whampoa Military Academy in 1924.

He then founded an academy of military technologies but died before finalizing the ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.

[1][2] His grandfather Chen Yihuai (陈益怀) was an officer in the Xiang Army led by Zeng Guofan, a statesman, military general, and Confucian scholar of the late Qing dynasty (1644–1911).

[6][7] It was a disillusioned Chen who left the army at 18 and found a job at the Hunan Railway Bureau as a receptionist.

[10][9] Chen joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1922 and studied at Whampoa Military Academy in 1924.

[23] He moved to the Central Soviet Area and was appointed president of Peng Pai Yang Yin Infantry School (彭湃杨殷步兵学校).

[24] From October 1934 to December 1935, he fought against the Kuomintang army in Guizhou and then in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu in 1936.

[31] The war ended and the 4th Column became the 4th Army Group, and Chen served as commander and political commissar.

[36] Returning from the Korean War, Chen founded the PLA Military Engineering Institute in Harbin, engaging in the development of technological weapons.

He had a caring attitude towards comrades and was instrumental in arranging Peng Dehuai's marriage to Pu Anxiu.