He was best known for his terms as Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and governor of Liaoning province.

In December 2005, he was appointed the secretary of the CPC's Shenyang City committee.

In 2009, amidst the ongoing global financial crisis, Chen led a group of over 200 officials on a business trip to Japan, where they spent a total of 50 million yen (roughly US$500,000) on dining and related expenses.

[1] In 2014, Chen was appointed the Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development replacing Jiang Weixin,[2] and Li Xi succeeded him as Governor of Liaoning.

He left office in 2017 upon reaching the mandated retirement age for ministerial-level officials of 65.