In 717–718, he was a member of the
Japanese mission to Tang China (
Kentōshi) along with
Kibi no Makibi and
Genbō. They returned to Japan; he did not. In China, he passed the
civil-service examination. Around 725, he took an administrative position and was promoted in
Luoyang in 728 and 731. Around 733 he received , who would command the Japanese diplomatic mission. In 734, Abe tried to return to Japan, but the ship that was to take him back sank not long into the journey, forcing him to remain in China for several more years. In 752, he tried again to return, with the mission to China led by
Fujiwara no Kiyokawa, but the ship he was traveling in was wrecked and ran aground off the coast of
Annan (modern day northern Vietnam). He managed to return to
Chang'an in 755. After the
An Lushan Rebellion started later in 755, it became unsafe to return to Japan and Nakamaro abandoned his hopes of returning to his homeland. He took several government posts and rose to serve as
Duhu (Governor-protector) of
Annam between 761 and 767, residing in Hanoi. He then returned to Chang'an and was once again planning his return to Japan when he died in 770, at the age of 72. Abe was a close friend of the Chinese poets
Li Bai and
Wang Wei, Zhao Hua, Bao Xin, and
Chu Guangxi. Nakamaro was known while in China by the name Chao Heng (). When Nakamaro's ship was wrecked, Li Bai prematurely assumed Chao's (Nakmaro's) demise and wrote a quatrain lamenting the loss (saying his ship has encircled
Penglai, i.e., the Otherworld). ==Legacy==