Zhong Zhaorong (1930-1958) showed his eagerness to learn since he was a child, and his father was an English professor. The boy studied in Chongqing Nankai Middle School and the Affiliated Middle School of Nanjing Central University. He graduated from the English Department of Fudan University in 1950 and was assigned to the Cultural Committee of the Central People's Government.

Soon, the People's Liberation Army entered Tibet from Qinghai; there, he worked as an interpreter with the translation assistant office under the leadership of General Tan Guansan, and was then transferred to the State Council's Foreign Cultural Liaison Affairs Bureau (later reorganized as the Foreign Cultural Liaison Committee). He worked as a Chinese-English interpreter on many important occasions when Premier Zhou Enlai received international guests.

On October 17, 1958, Zhong was with the Chinese cultural delegation led by the Minister of Culture Zheng Zhenduo, traveling from Beijing Nanyuan Airport to Moscow for a friendly visit to the Kingdom of Afghanistan and the United Arab Republic. In the early morning of October 18 that year, the airplane caught fire and exploded while flying over the Tuva Republic (southern Siberia). All 16 members of the delegation and accompanying staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economy and Trade were killed.

On October 26, after the remains of the victims were cremated in the place where the accident occurred, their ashes were escorted to China by a special plane of the Soviet army. Beijing held a grand memorial service for the 16 victims, including Zhong Zhaorong; they were awarded the title of revolutionary martyrs and buried in the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery with solemn tombstones.

The inscription reads: "These martyrs were sacrificed for the noble mission of enhancing the friendship between the peoples of China, Asian, and African countries, cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, economic cooperation, and world peace. ...They have shown infinite loyalty to the socialist society of the motherland and the cause of defending world peace."

Zhong Zhaorong was only 29 years old when he died.