She previously served as the Communist Party Secretary of Guizhou, a province in southwestern China, between November 2020 and December 2022.

Shen is the third female provincial-level party chief since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 after Wan Shaofen and former Vice Premier Sun Chunlan.

[2] In the 17th Party Congress at the end of 2007, Shen was appointed as an alternate member of the CCP Central Committee.

[6] Later that year, in the 19th Party Congress, Shen was appointed as a full member of the Central Committee.

[8] Later that month, in an article in the Party's top theoretical journal Qiushi, Shen wrote that women must contribute to the “great cause of national rejuvenation and demonstrate the power of half the sky”, continuing by writing the work of women and the ACWF should always follow "the correct political path and the party’s lead".