Previously he served as president of Hunan University from September 2011 to January 2016.
[1][2] Zhao was an executive director of the 8th and 9th Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.
[citation needed] Zhao was born and raised in Yiyang, Hunan.
[5] By late 2011, he was elected vice-chairman of Hunan Association for Science and Technology.
[citation needed] In February 2017, he was appointed president of Guangxi University, replacing Zhao Yanlin (赵艳林).