Chen Shouyi was born in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, in 1944. He graduated from the Zhejiang Art Academy in 1968, and in 1971, he was employed in the Art Section of the Township Office in Nantong, Jiangsu Province. In 1978, he returned to the Zhejiang Art Academy, where he teaches.

Chen, who specializes in oil painting, went to France in 1984. In 1985, he held a solo exhibition in Paris.