[1] Arrested in June 1989 for taking part in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, he was imprisoned in Qincheng prison in Beijing for more than half a year, but was then discharged and sent back to his old school in Shaanxi, where he graduated in 1992.
In defense of fellow workers against corruption and substandard working conditions, he tried to stand for election as a factory representative to the National People Congress, on a platform critical of the All China Federation of Trade Unions.
[2] In November 2002, he was responsible for drafting the Open Letter to the 16th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and collecting 192 signatures to support his demands for democracy.
Zhao was charged with "attempted subversion of state power" and tried behind closed doors at the Xi'an People's Court on 10 July 2003.
On 18 February 2006, he was again punished with solitary confinement for 3 months for refusing to take part in military drills and for receiving Falun Gong members.