Abstract: This article systematically examines the economic thought of Chen Chi from the perspective of his personal background and individual experiences. This study reveals that his economic theory, which placed the people’s livelihood at the center, was greatly influenced by China’s experience with famine in the late Qing. This article states that Chen was the first economic theorist to take environmental change into account when analyzing the impoverishment of northern China and the rising frequency of famine. Chen thus contributed to the advance of modern demographic, environmental, economic, and social policies, and introduced new ideas for development of China’s economy that had a significant influence on later economic theoreticians.