Female swimmer Chen Hua was born on October 20, 1982 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. In November 1996, she was selected to Zhejiang provincial swimming team from Hangzhou Sports School and joined the national swimming team in 1998.

She won the championships in women’s 400m freestyle, 800m freestyle and 4×200m freestyle relay at the Bangkok Asian Games in 1998, the championships in women’s 400m and 800m freestyle at the FINA Swimming World Cup (Beijing, Paris and Glasgow) in 1999, and the championship in women’s 800m freestyle and the third place in 400m freestyle at the FINA Short Course World Championships in 2000. In 2001, she won the championship in women’s 800m freestyle at the FINA Swimming World Cup (Shanghai). In 2002, she won the championship in women’s 800m freestyle and the runner-up in women’s 400m freestyle at the FINA Short Course World Championships.

In 2002, she won the championship in women’s 800m freestyle and the runner-up in women’s 400m freestyle at the 14th Asian Games held in Busan.