[5] Chen was born in 1947 in Surakarta (Solo), Dutch East Indies, to an ethnic Chinese family with ancestral roots in Fuqing, Fujian.

[8] Her journey in badminton began at the young age of 10, when she first picked up a racket as a means to keep herself healthy due to her weak body constitution.

[1] Chen's first taste of international success came at the Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO) held in Jakarta, Indonesia, in November 1963.

[10] In order to compensate for this, the Chinese team arranged friendly matches against prominent European and Asian badminton powerhouses as an alternative method to assess their athletes' skills and abilities.

[11] However, due to the Cultural Revolution and the resulting isolation of China from the international community, the friendly matches against other badminton powerhouses were put on hold until many years later.

[2] In January 1973, Chen was part of the Chinese badminton team that embarked on a tour to Europe to play friendly matches against Denmark and England.

[13] Later that month, Chen and her teammates traveled to England for a series of friendly matches against the English players and won convincingly against their opponents.

[18][19] Following their impressive performance in Thailand, the Chinese team embarked on a tour to Singapore in June 1974 for a three-day friendly match series.

[20] Chen's exceptional performance continued as she won all her matches during the friendly series, further solidifying her reputation as the best woman player in the world.

[21][1] When the IBF granted permission to the Chinese team to compete in the 1974 Asian Games, Chen was eager to represent her country on the international stage.

[2] In the women's singles event, she displayed her exceptional skills and determination, advancing to the final where she faced her compatriot Liang Qiuxia.

Instead, I decided to coach our budding players.”[1] In 1976, Chen returned and took part in Asian Invitational Badminton Championships where she secured a bronze medal after defeating Sylvia Ng of Malaysia, 11–4, 11–6, in a third placing match.

[5] In more than ten years of coaching, Chen has trained more than a dozen high-level players for the country such as Han Aiping, Guan Weizhen, Tang Jiuhong, and also Zhang Ning, the women's singles champion of the Athens and Beijing Olympic Games.