Jiang Zhaohe (1904-1986) was born in Luzhou, Sichuan Province. At an early age, he became interested in art, in particular in traditional drawing. Forced by circumstances he moved to Shanghai in 1920, where he took up designing for advertising and clothing. Here he started studying Western art by himself. He studied with established masters such as Xu Beihong and Qi Baishi and mastered many different modes of artistic expression, including sculpture. Having lost his job as a result of his participation in waging anti-Japanese propaganda in 1932, he took up teaching jobs. In 1937, he mounted his first solo exhibition.

At the invitation of Xu Beihong, he became a teacher at the National Beiping Art School in 1947. In 1950, he became a professor at the Central Art Academy.

Jiang was a versatile artist, expressing himself in oil painting, sculpture, industrial design and other genres.