Chan was born in Hong Kong and attended La Salle College.[1] His study was interrupted by the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong from 1941 to 1945. After the war, he began his working career at the Cable & Wireless PLC.
He set up the Cable and Wireless Staff Association in 1970 and became one of its leaders until 1975. The association negotiated with the company and successfully gained the collective bargaining. In April 1973 when Chan was the chairman and deliberately demoted, the association called for work-to-rule and made the company agree to negotiate. When the negotiation broke down in October, the association called for a go-slow and sit-in and the company dismissed 53 workers which made the association going back to the negotiation table. The incident probably led to the introduction of the "cooling off period".[2] Until the end of 1973 both sides agreed to hook the workers' wage to the civil servants.
Chan began to be appointed by the government in various public offices. In 1980, he was appointed by Governor Murray MacLehose to the Legislative Council, to replace the vacant seat left by Leung Tat-shing of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Trades Union Council. Before he was appointed to the council, he was made Justice of Peace. He became the special Adviser to director for the Cable & Wireless PLC and director of the Hong Kong Telephone Co. Ltd. and Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation later on.[1]
He also held many public positions, including member of Green Mini-bus Operators Selection Board, Fish Marketing Advisory Board, Fisheries Development Loan Fund Advisory Committee, Labour Advisory Board, Public Accounts Committee, Transport Advisory Committee, Vocational Training Council, Working Group of the Transport Advisory Committee on China Motor Bus Maintenance, UMELCO Police Group. He was also chairman of the Correctional Services Children's Education Committee and the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund Board.[3]