[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.
[2] Although his career was cut short by disease, Chen had achieved international fame by the time he died.
[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.
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.