In 1994, Chen was assigned to the Ministry of State Security (MSS), becoming Deputy Director at the Sichuan provincial state security department. In 1998 Chen took over leadership of the state security department in Sichuan. He held this position until 2002, when he was appointed Chief Prosecutor at the Sichuan provincial People's Procuratorate. In 2006, Chen moved over to Fujian, where he served until 2012 as Deputy Party Secretary and concurrently head of the provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). Following the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party at which Xi Jinping came to power, Chen went to Beijing to become one of the deputy secretaries of the CCDI.