A graduate of the Mathematics Department of Xiamen University, Chen Jingrun (1933-1996) was considered one of the greatest mathematicians in China and the world. His work on the twin prime conjecture, Waring's problem, Goldbach's conjecture and Legendre's conjecture led to major progress in analytic number theory.

In a 1966 paper, Chen proved what is now called Chen's theorem, which states that "each large even number can be expressed as the sum of a prime and an integer that is the product of at most two primes."

His simplified version of the proof published in 1973 was recognized as Chen Jingrun's Theorem by mathematicians all over the world. Chen's research into Goldbach's conjecture still leads the world in this field.

In 1978 and 1982 Chen was invited to deliver a report in the International Congress of Mathematicians. Chen published more than 70 academic papers in his lifetime. In 1996 the asteroid 7681 was renamed Chenjingrun in honor of Chen's achievements.