Born in Shanghai in 1951, he began studying music in his childhood. When the Cultural Revolution broke out in China, he was fourteen years old and was studying at the Secondary School of the Central Conservatory in Beijing. His father, a senior teacher at the Beijing Academy of Fine Arts and a famous calligrapher and painter, was immediately condemned as ‘bourgeois’ and ‘anti-revolutionary’, and sent to a labour camp. Parted from his family, the young Qigang was interned in a barracks for three years for ‘ideological re-education’. However, his convictions and his passion for music could not be shaken, and he continued to study writing, orchestration and composition in spite of social and political anti-cultural pressures. In 1977, China reinstated the system of competitive entry to colleges of higher education. That year, Qigang Chen was one of the twenty-six students picked from two thousand candidates to study composition at the Central Conservatory in Beijing. After studying with Luo Zhongrong for five years, he entered the national competition for composition and came in first; he was thus the only student permitted to travel abroad to continue his studies. This was how Qigang Chen came to France, where he has lived since 1984. Paris welcomed him warmly and all the doors were opened to him. He received a four-year scholarship from the French government. He was accepted by Olivier Messiaen as his last and only pupil between 1984 and 1988, and he also studied with Malec, Ballif, Jolas, CastérŹde and Donatoni. He has won awards from various foundations and at several international competitions, as well as from the sacem (Society of French Composers and Musicians).
The music of Qigang Chen, synthesizing the cultures of the East and the West, shows a profound sense of instrumental colour and
a genuine lyricism. It is performed by highly regarded ensembles all over the world, and delights audiences with its great expressivity and its particularly rich and glowing timbral palette.

Selected works: Le souvenir for flute and harp (1985), Yi for clarinet and string quartet (1986), Voyage d’un rźve for flute, harp, percussion and string trio (1987), Yuan for symphony orchestra (1988), LumiŹres de Guang Ling for instrumental ensemble (1989), Feu d’ombres for soprano saxophone and instrumental ensemble (1990), PoŹme lyrique for baritone and instrumental ensemble (1990), PoŹme lyrique II for baritone and instrumental ensemble (1991), Hui Sheng for organ (1992), Un pétale de lumiŹre (Hommage ą Olivier Messiaen) for flutes and orchestra (1993), Rźve d’un solitaire for instrumental ensemble or orchestra and electronics (1993), San Xiao for four traditional Chinese instruments (1995), Extase for oboe and orchestra (1995), Reflet d’un temps disparu for cello and orchestra (1995–96), Extase II for oboe and instrumental ensemble (1997), Wu Xing (The Five Eelements) for large orchestra (1999), Instants d’un opéra de Pékin for piano (2000), Iris dévoilée, concert suite for three female voices, three traditional Chinese instruments and orchestra (2001), Un temps disparu for erhu and orchestra (2002).

The piece Wu Xing (The Five Elements) was commissioned by Radio France in 1998. The proposition coincided with a period of personal quest and the composer took it up as a challenge since he had to cope with new constraints, especially the requirement for a work of short duration. Qigang Chen thus came to the idea of writing five pieces of about two minutes each and to characterise each piece by a different symbol. From there the idea of representing the Five Elements musically was born.
The theory of the Five Elements originates from the Great Norm chapter (Hongfan) of the Book of History (Shujing) dating back to Chinese high antiquity. The Book of Changes (Yijing) also dates from this time. It is a commentary on the Sixty-four hexagrams which come to represent all possible situations and changes in the universe.
The concept of the Five Elements and the divination theory of the Sixty-four hexagrams were mixed together with the concept of Yin-yang by scholars of the later Han dynasty (206 bc–220 ac) who proposed a conception of the nature of the universe. ‘Wu Xing’ means ‘five movements’ and one should bear in mind that they represent
a dynamic process. The so-called Five Elements are not physical substances; they represent cyclic movements which constitute the universe. There are different orders of the Five Elements, but the most accurate are that of production (wood, fire, earth, metal, water) and that of overcoming (fire, water, earth, wood, metal).
Qigang Chen decided to express his own view of the relationship between these elements, to propose a musical interpretation of what he considers each element to symbolise and thus to suggest an order of the five elements which is based on generation. For him, ‘water’ is the strongest element but is characterised by calmness. ‘Wood’ is the richest element with many variations. ‘Fire’ represents life and warmth but it is not aggressive. ‘Earth’ is the matrix, a generative principle. ‘Metal’ refers to strength and light.