Zhao was born in Nanyang, Henan, in October 1926.[1][2][3] He entered the revolutionary workforce in April 1938, and joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in November 1941.[1][2][3] In April 1940, he enrolled at Yan'an Academy of Natural Sciences (predecessor of Beijing University of Technology), which is the first science and engineering university founded by the CCP.[1][2][3] He was transferred to the Eighth Route Army Medical University in 1943.[1][2][3] Upon graduating in 1945, he became political commissar of Northeast Democratic United Army Field Hospital.[1][2][3]
After the establishment of the Communist State in 1949, Zhao, who was 23-years-old at the time, was appointed as manager of Fushun Heavy Machinery Factory.[1][2][3] Two years later, he was sent to the Soviet Union for further education.[1][2][3] He returned to China in 1957 and that same year became director and chief engineer of the Fularji First Heavy Machinery Factory.[1][2][3] In 1960, his team completed the construction task of the "First Heavy Machinery Factory", one year earlier than expected.[1][2][3]
During the ten-year Cultural Revolution, he was removed from office and effectively sidelined.[1][2][3]
Since 1977, he successively served as vice minister of the First Machinery Industry, deputy director of the National Science and Technology Commission, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, director of the Office of the Science and Technology Leading Group of the State Council, director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for the Introduction of Intelligence, and director of the Office of the Computing Machinery Committee of the State Council.[1][2][3] In 1984 he was made deputy secretary-seneral of the Central Leading Group for Finance and Economics of the CCP Central Committee and deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission.[1][2][3] In 1985, he was elevated to minister of Labor and Personnel and leader of the Military Cadre Placement Working Group of the State Council.[1][2][3] In 1988, he was appointed as minister of the newly reshuffled Ministry of Personnel.[1][2][3] In July 1991, he was chosen as director of the Office of the Central Organization Establishment Committee, he remained in that position until May 1993, when he was transferred to the National People's Congress and appointed chairperson of the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee.[1][2][3]
On 4 May 2020, he died from an illness in Beijing, at the age of 93.[1][2][3]