Zhao's seal carving had profound influence on the later masters, such as Wu Changshuo and Qi Baishi.

He is also known under the courtesy name of Yifu (益甫) and his pseudonym (hào) of Lengjun (冷君), which he changed to Huishu (撝叔) and Bei'an (悲盦) respectively later in his life.

He became a Xiucai at the age of 20, and obtained the title Juren in 1859 in Zhejiang provincial exam.

During the rebellion, his family shattered, and a number of his art works as well as his collections were lost.

His written works include the first Chinese study of snuff-taking, entitled Yonglu Xianjie, or "Researches done during Spare Time into the Realm of Yonglu, God of the Nose", an English language translation of which by Richard Lynn can be found in the 1991 Autumn edition of the Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society.