He was a figure in the Northern Song Dynasty. Chen Shimei is a character in China's traditional drama Qin Xianglian (also known as My Beauty Case). In the play, he was an ungrateful villain who abandoned his wife and children, and was finally beheaded by Bao Zheng, so he became synonymous with ingratitude in later generations. Chen Shimei's image and story originated from the Ming Dynasty novel "An Image Trial of a Hundred Cases with a Bag".

Because Bao Zheng is from the Northern Song Dynasty, Chen Shimei must be from the Northern Song Dynasty. However, there is no Chen Shimei in history, he is just a dramatic figure.