Thereafter he served as a vice-minister of education and vice chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology.

Chen traces his ancestry to Putian, Fujian province, and was born on 16 September 1953 in the provincial capital Fuzhou.

[1] In November 2008, Chen became Vice Minister of Education and a deputy party secretary of the ministry, leaving his post at Tsinghua shortly thereafter.

[4] In April 2011 Chen became the head of the party branch and vice chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), succeeding Deng Nan.

As was customary for an Organization Department head, he was given a seat on the 19th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party.

[7] After the 20th Party Congress in October 2022, Chen stepped down as a member of the Politburo and as the head of the Organization Department in April 2023, being succeeded by Li Ganjie.