Chen was born in Lezhi, near Chengdu, Sichuan, into a moderately wealthy magistrate's family.

A comrade of Lin Biao from their guerilla days, Chen was a commander of the New Fourth Army during the Sino - Japanese War (1937 - 1945), spearheaded the Shandong counter - offensive during the Chinese Civil War, and later commanded the Communist armies that defeated the KMT forces at Huai-Hai and conquered the lower Yangtze region in 1948 - 49. He was made a Marshal of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in 1955.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chen became mayor of Shanghai. He also served as vice premier from 1954 to 1972 and foreign minister from 1958 to 1972 and president of the China Foreign Affairs University from 1961 to 1969. During the Cultural Revolution, he was criticized in 1967, but never dismissed, so Zhou Enlai performed the duties of foreign minister in his place. He was a member of the 8th CPC Politburo from 1956 to 1967 and he was not admitted to the 9th Politburo (1969), though he was a member of the 9th CPC Central Committee.

After Marshal Lin Biao's death in 1971, he was restored to favor, although not to his former power. Mao Zedong personally presided over his funeral arrangements. This was Mao's last public appearance and his first appearance at anyone's funeral during the Cultural Revolution.