Song Chen would start his football career playing for the various Dalian Shide F.C. youth teams before he was sent out to the team's reserve team called Dalian Shide Siwu FC that was allowed to take part in Singapore's 2008 S.League. He would make his debut on 21 February 2008 in a league game against Home United that ended in a 2-1 defeat. He would return to the Dalian Shide's youth team as they participated in the 2009 National Games of China. He would go on to transfer to Chinese Super League team Shenzhen Ruby in 2010 along with fellow teammate Quan Heng. He would eventually make his league debut for Shenzhen on 2 May 2010 in a game against Henan Jianye, coming on as a substitute for Yuan Lin in the 43rd minute. Song would gradually start to establish himself within the team until the introduction of new Head coach Philippe Troussier, who did not integrate Song into his tactical system.