Cen was born in 1861 during the late Qing dynasty in Xilin, Guangxi. His father, Cen Yuying (岑毓英; 1829–1889), served as the Viceroy of Yunnan and Guizhou. He was very ill-behaved in his youth and was one of the "Three Notorious Youngsters in the Capital" () alongside Ruicheng and Lao Ziqiao (). In 1879, he first entered the civil service as a "zhushi" (). In 1885, he obtained the position of a "juren" () in the imperial examination and was appointed as a "houren langzhong" (). When Cen Yuying died in 1889, the government took into consideration his service to the Qing Empire and decided to appoint Cen Chunxuan as a "shaoqing" (少卿; a fourth-grade official position) in the Taipusi (), a government agency in charge of the imperial transport system.