His ancestors were Manchu Bannerman of Irgen Gioro clan who were stationed in Chengdu during Qing dynasty.
[1] He studied biology at West China Union University, under the tutelage of Liu Chengzhao [de].
[2] He was elected a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2001.
[3][4] He died at West China Medical Center of Sichuan University on 24 December 2016.
[4] Zhao is commemorated in the scientific names of four taxa of reptiles.