[2][5] From 1993 to 1995 Chen was a professor at IHEAP in Paris, and from 1995 to 1999 he taught at the École nationale des beaux-arts in Nancy.
[5] His mature work, created in the last decade of his life, explored "synergy" between different cultural and political environments.
[5] After his death, memorial exhibitions were held at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston,[2] MoMA PS1 in New York City, as well as in Greece and Italy.
[5] Chen has also had solo exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery, London in 2001 and DE SARTHE in Hong Kong in 2011.
His widow Xu Min (徐敏), who is also an artist and Chen's close collaborator,[5] spent seven years completing the work of great technical complexity.
[8][9] The installation, which has water circulating at high pressure within a stylized dragon and is illuminated at night, was inaugurated in 2008.
His eldest brother, Chen Zhu, is a hematologist who has served as China's Minister of Health and vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.