Zhao Jian (1924) was born in Jiangdu, Jiangsu Province, and joined the New Fourth Army in 1940. He has worked with the Shanghai People's Fine Art Publishing House, the Shanghai Educational Publishing House and the Shanghai Shuhua Publishers. Zhao has also collaborated on a number of journals devoted to calligraphy.

Zhao is known for his Chinese paintings, blockprints and cursive calligraphy.