He returned to China in 1921 and joined the Creation Society circle of scholars with Yu Dafu and other Chinese intellectuals, publishing numerous articles promulgating the new literature.

Despite the establishment jobs he soon became close to Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong and joined a failed Communist coup d'état.

Cheng returned to China in September 1931 and soon went to the Eyuwan Soviet (鄂豫皖), a Communist base that straddled 3 provinces (Hubei, Anhui and Henan).

In this mountainous region Cheng became the senior commissar responsible for most of the administrative activity, including the economy, education, taxation and transportation.

In October 1934, the CCP decided to abandon its bases in southern China and embarked on the Long March towards the more remote northwest.

In 1937, the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War led thousands of Chinese students to flee the cities of northern China, many ending up in Shaanxi.

The CCP was unprepared to meet this sudden influx, but Cheng established the Shaanbei Public Academy in July 1937 to give them a political education.

The school faced severe financial difficulties given the poverty of the students and survived on subsidies from the CCP Central Committee.

[6] In 1939, the Shaanbei Public Academy was combined with three other institutions to create the Huabei United University, of which Cheng became the President.

Cheng brought a fresh breeze and re-invigorated the University with his focus on grass roots reality and personal knowledge of the subject matter.