[2] In 1922, Zhao Shiyan and Ho Chi Minh were invited to join the French Communist Party.

In the same year in December, he was appointed as Chairman of the Northern Bureau of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

[citation needed] In 1926, Zhao was sent to Shanghai with Zhou Enlai to lead the workers' armed uprising during the Northern Expedition.

On 12 April 1927, Chiang Kai-shek launched a coup against his communist allies and massacred them in Shanghai.

After Chen Yannian was arrested by Kuomintang, Zhao took over as secretary of Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the CCP.