After graduating from university in 1963, he volunteered to support the development of Xinjiang where he successively became a high school teacher, a civil servant, a magazine designer and a leader in the local literary and art federation.

No matter which post he attained, Chen never gave up creating art.

"Initially, I lived in a flat covering around a dozen square meters with my wife and eldest son," Chen says as he recalls his time in Xinjiang.

There was just one desk in the flat, which my son used to do his homework on. Chen had to kneel on the ground to use the bed as a worktable.

Although suffering from shortage of materials and difficult circumstances, he still managed to create a series of paper-cuts.

"I often worked late into the night. I felt happy though," he says.

In 1980, he initiated a paper-cut research association in Xinjiang to better foster the folk art's evolution in the region.

He believes that Xinjiang is among the most culturally diverse regions in China.