Born in Kangping, Liaoning Province, Chen graduated from Inner Mongolia Normal College, majoring in political education.

After graduation in 1964, Chen was assigned to work in the CCP party school in Hulunbuir of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

In 1989, Chen became a standing member of CCP Inner Mongolia committee, and the secretary of commission for higher institutions of the autonomous region.

[5] In January 2003, he moved up to the central government to become president and party secretary of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

In March 2003, at the first session of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Chen Kuiyuan was elected vice-chairman of the 10th CPPCC, and was reelected in March 2008; in April 2013, he stepped down as president and secretary of the CPC Central Committee of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and was succeeded by Wang Weiguang.