CHEN Xianda was born in Poyang, Jiangxi Province in December 1930. In 1953, he gained admission to the Philosophy Research class of Renmin University of China and has been engaged in teaching since 1956.

He is a preeminent first-class professor of Renmin University of China, a renowned contemporary Marxist philosopher and educator, as well as an outstanding representative of the first cohort of Marxist theorists cultivated in China.

He held the position of the chairperson of the Department of Philosophy of Renmin University of China, was a member of the third session of the Academic Degrees Committee of The State Council, led the National Philosophy and Social Science Philosophy Group, served as the president of the Beijing Philosophical Society, and held the office of the president of the Chinese Historical Materialism Society.

Currently, he acts as the convenor of the Department of Philosophy of the Social Science Commission of the Ministry of Education, serves as a consultant for the Beijing Federation of Social Science, and holds the honorary position of the president of the Chinese Historical Materialism Society.

Since 1991, he has been entitled to the special government subsidy of The State Council, claimed the 7th, 8th and 14th "Five Projects" Awards of the Central Propaganda Department, won the first prize of the first Chinese University Humanities and Social Science Research Outstanding Achievements, received the national "Ten Most Beautiful Teachers" and the national "Role Model" character title.

Professor CHEN Xianda has conducted in-depth research and published extensively in the fundamental theory of philosophy, the history of Marxist philosophy, the Sinicization of Marxist philosophy, and the cultural theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics. He has put forward several significant principles related to historical materialism and dialectical materialism, humanitarianism and alienation, truth criteria, traditional culture and Marxist philosophy, and how philosophy focuses on reality. His representative works encompass "Theoretical Confidence: To be a Firm Believer in Marxism", "CHEN Xianda's Collected Works (14 volumes)", "Toward the Depths of History", "Philosophy in the Gap", "Course on the Basic Principles of Marxism", "New Exploration of Historical Materialism", "Abstract of Classic Works of Marxism", and "Principles of Marxist Philosophy", among others, and he has published over 200 academic papers.