 After the Sino-Japanese War, Zhao began a creative relationship with director Zheng Junli, with films such as the 1948 anti-Kuomintang drama-comedy, "Crows and Sparrows".Zhao remained on the mainland following the Communist victory in 1949 and continued to make films throughout the 1950s and 1960s notably in biographical films playing historical figures of Nie Er, Lin Zexu (both directed by Zheng Junli) and Li Shizhen.Zhao joined Communist Party of China in 1957.