He ranked first in the Yangxian poetry test / competition[6] and was friends with Wu Weiye, Maoxiang, Gong Dingzi, Jiang Chenying, Shao Changheng, Peng Sundi and others.

[9] When the Ming was replaced by the Qing, Chen took the Imperial examination (科舉/科举) to become a government bureaucrat, but then later changed his mind to pursue a life as a poet.

[10] In the spring 1662, he went to Yangzhou and alongside writers Wang Shizhen and Zhang Yangzhong helped repair the Xihong Bridge.

For example, on Yun Lang's wedding day, which was arranged by Chen, he wrote: "Six years we have shared life in this lonely world I’ll never forget how, Beside a pillow of red shrub flowers, Your tears fell tenderly.

Sorrowfully, my inner quilt as cold as iron, I reach for the mahogany panpipe With no hope of catching the light of daybreak through the windows.

[22][26] An artist by the name of Chen Hu also painted a portrait of Yun after a bath; the picture was so famous during the Qing dynasty, that a publication was released containing about 160 poems taking inspiration from the work and celebrating the young man and his relationship with Chen; the poems were composed by almost eighty literary celebrities and officials of the time, including Gong Dingzi, Song Wan, and You Tong.