Chen Leiji was born in 1967 from a family of musicians. Under Gong Yi, he started practicing guqin (an ancient string instrument of the zither family) at the age of 9, and then entered the Music Middle School Affiliated to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where he majored in guqin from the age 12. Guqin master Gong Yi spoke of him as “a great guqin performer”.
In 2010, with Zhao Jiping, he studied in China Conservatory of Music where he obtained his doctorate in composition.
Chen Leiji is now teaching at China Conservatory of Music and Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.