Shen Miaorong was from Wuxing Commandery (吳興, roughly modern Huzhou, Zhejiang) as was her husband's clan.
Shen Miaorong married Chen Qian when she was a teenager, and while the exact year is not known, the marriage took place during Emperor Wu of Liang's Datong (大同) era (535-546).
Emperor Wen posthumously named Empress Shen's father the Marquess of Jiancheng and her mother Lady Gao the Marchioness of Sui'an.
Dao was demoted, and Chen Xu took full control of the imperial government.
Empress Dowager Shen, unhappy about the result, instructed her eunuch Jiang Yu (蔣裕) to encourage Zhang Anguo (張安國), a man from Jian'an Commandery (建安, roughly modern Nanping, Fujian), to rebel, but after Zhang's rebellion was discovered and suppressed, she killed her attendants who knew about the plan.
Emperor Fei was demoted to the title of Prince of Linhai, while Chen Bomao, who had participated in Liu's plot and had publicly declared his disapproval of Chen Xu, was demoted in rank to Marquess of Wenma and exiled.