His paintings deal with the conceptual, while his day-to-day life as an architect is based on the rational. Born in 1921 into a family with intellectual traditions in Peking, Chen was strictly brought up. Every day a private tutor guided him through the classics and calligraphy practice.
或許他本性感情豐富、細膩，但幼時受嚴格的家教、成年後受工科訓練，現又主持工學院與建築師事務所業務，使得他的情感內斂到只在畫中流露，平時行事則以理性為依歸。