Chen Pingyuan, a native of Chaozhou, Guangdong Province, was born in January 1954. He is a professor of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Peking University, with no party affiliation. He used to be Dean of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Peking University. He is a professor of the Changjiang Scholars Program established by the Ministry of Education and also a chair professor of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was engaged as a researcher of the CCICH in February 2015.