Chien became the youngest Taiwanese basketball player ever to make the national team at age 15. In the 1993 Summer Universiade, she set a record by scoring 84 points in a 117-35 blowout win against Hong Kong. In 1999, she tried out for the Orlando Miracle in the Women's National Basketball Association, but failed to make the cut. In 2002, she became the first Taiwanese player to play in the Women's Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA), where she played for 5 seasons. She finished her career in Taiwan's Women's Super Basketball League (WSBL). She was also the oldest player ever to represent Chinese Taipei when she played in the 2008 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women, and at the age of 37, still averaged 20 points per game.