Zhao left China and went to graduate school at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco in 1986.
From 1988-1990, Zhao enrolled in the graduate program at the School of Visual Arts, where he received the MFA degree.
Zhao joined as a faculty member at the Fine Arts Department off the Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York in 1996.
In 1996, he created his first earth art project for the Djerassi Foundation in California during a temporary artist's residency.
Zhao has done many paintings, sculptures, and media-site-specific installations that involve moving images and sound, which includes: Public Artwork