Imperial examination
Cheng was born in Jiangdu, Jiangsu province. His father was a merchant in the salt business. Huishang (), that is to say, businessmen from Huizhou (), not only did well in business, but also played an important role in cultural field. There were many Huizhou merchants who were excellent in academic fields. Cheng was such a Huishang () who did well both in business and Confucianism. He earned much while being interested in cultural investments. He achieved the Imperial examination degree of Jinshi in 1771 and he was appointed to the Hanlin Academy (). After that, he continued to take the imperial examination several times but failed all. In 1773, Cheng was appointed to edit Siku Quanshu.