[6] On 6 January 2013, Zhao joined fellow top-tier club Shandong Luneng for a reported 15 million Yuan.
[10] In his loan period Zhao would immediately establish himself as an integral member of the team that avoided relegation at the end of the season.
[11] On his return from his loan, Zhao would go on to establish himself within the Shandong team and go on to win the 2014 Chinese FA Cup with them.
[16] At the end of the season he would only make a handful of games for the club and he was allowed to join Shanghai Shenhua on 24 January 2020.
[17] On 4 August 2022 he would be loaned out to second-tier club Kunshan where he established himself as regular within the team that won the division and promotion to the top tier at the end of the 2022 China League One campaign.