While doing his three years of mandatory military service, Chen spent time learning line drawing and painting. Studying on his own, he taught himself to carve a lifelike dragon's head from a pumpkin. In his time off duty, he once carved 1,000 dragon heads in just three days.
當兵 3 年時間，他更勤練素描與繪畫，不斷用心自學，以南瓜刻出的龍頭，鬚角靈活、栩栩如生，曾有以工作外時間，3 天內刻出 1000 個龍頭的紀錄。