Chairman of the Culture Wuzhen Co. Ltd., President of Wuzhen Tourism Co. Ltd. Chen was born in Wuzhen and started the Wuzhen construction protection and development plan from its inception in 1999. Known for his desire to preserve and protect Wuzhen, Mr. Chen was the lead designer and organizer of the plan to preserve the historical value of Wuzhen. His idea of preserving the streets, canals and architecture of the original city was the driving force behind his desire to turn Wuzhen into not only a wonderful tourist destination, but also to protect its historical value. For his work, Mr. Chen was given the Award of Distinction from the Asia Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation in 2003.  His vision of the new Wuzhen has attracted the attention of Chinese and international artists with the Wuzhen Theatre Festival.

Since 2013, Chen Xianghong co-founded Wuzhen Theatre Festival with Huang Lei, Stan Lai and Meng Jinghui.