[1] Zhao was born in Changchun, Jilin, in August 1953, while her ancestral home in Beijing.
In September 1992, she was appointed deputy party secretary of Changchun, capital of Jilin province.
Zhao was transferred to Beijing in May 1993, where she was appointed secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China and vice chairwoman of the All China Youth Federation.
[1] In February 2011, she took office as party branch secretary of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
[2] She also served as vice chairwoman and secretary of the Secretariat from June 2011 to September 2018.