Chen was born in the town of Zhentou, Liuyang County, Hunan, on 23 September 1926, to Chen Chang [zh], a classmate of Mao Zedong at Hunan First Normal University and revolutionary of the Chinese Communist Party, and Mao Bingqin (毛秉琴).

[2][3] In 1954, she was sent to study at the Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy on government scholarships, earning her vice-doctorate degree under the supervision of soviet microbiologist Mikhail Fedorov [ru] in 1958.

[2][3] She put forward new ideas to deny the traditional concepts of "host specificity" of rhizobia and "interracial race" with plants.

[2][3] She established a set of scientific Rhizobium classification, identification technical methods and data processing procedures.

[2][3] She proved the diversity of symbiotic relationship between rhizobia and legumes, and revealed the great difference in symbiotic effectiveness between near source strains and different varieties of plants, she also put forward new ideas on the evolution of symbiotic mechanism of rhizobia, and found that mixed planting between gramineous plants and legumes can eliminate the obstacle of "nitrogen repression" of rhizobia, and the two interact to produce high yield.