Chen is doing practice-led, artistic research including short films and film poems using a Chinese system, Xiang, as the central creative strategy. Xiang system is a philosophical and aesthetic system adapted from Chinese poetry. Her practice also explore Menglong (the amorphous or enigmatic) as an aesthetic visual style in communicating meaning and lyrical nuance of daily life.

In exploring these phenomena, she draws inspiration from the work of pre-existing poets. Significantly, she considers the potential application in short film of the restraint and delicacy that is indicative of poetry. Methodologically, a synergistic melding of Xiang system and heuristic inquiry is developed to heighten lyrical thinking within practice.