After his visa expired he was convinced by fellow artists such as Liu Kang, and then commissioner general Malcolm MacDonald to stay.

Chen travelled to various places in Southeast Asia to collect drawing materials during his vacations, and he was especially inspired by the people and customs of Bali and Java.

Between 1923 and 1992, he conducted 38 one-man exhibitions in Singapore and other countries such as China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

Chen was proficient in both traditional Chinese ink and Western oil painting, and experimented with a variety of styles ranging from Fauvism to Cubism.

His unique style which showed interest in angles but not Cubist; strays not far from reality and is obsessed with shapes, and yet not an abstract painter.

Around that time, he had bought a white faced gibbon for $300 at a local pet shop shortly after he arrived in Singapore.

[5] For his contributions to the fine arts in Singapore, President Yusof Ishak conferred Chen the Public Service Star in 1964.

In 1980, he became the first Singaporean artist to be invited, and conferred with the Golden Chapter gold medal award, by the National Museum of History in Taiwan.