She obtained a degree in French language and literature from Fudan University (复旦大学) in 1983 and worked as a translator and interpreter before moving to Montreal in 1989.
Ying Chen's novels include La mémoire de l'eau, Les lettres chinoises, L'ingratitude (which won the Prix Québec-Paris, and was published in the U.S. as "Ingratitude," translated by Carol Volk, and published in China as "再见妈妈", self-translated), Immobile (which won the Prix Alfred-DesRochers), Le champ dans la mer (published in China as "V家花园", self-translated), Querelle d'un squelette avec son double (self-translated and published on Amazon as "Skeleton and its double"), "Le Mangeur", "Un Enfant à ma porte", "Espèces", "La Rive est loin".
She wrote two books of essays: "Quatre mille marches" and "La Lenteur des montagnes".
She practices a lean, polished and deceptively simple writing style, free of flourishes and excess verbiage.
As a child, one of her schoolteachers once told her "the most simple is the most beautiful", and she has retained this idea.