[2] Zhou completed a bachelor's degree in English at Sun Yat-sen University in 1982, and became a lecturer at her alma mater until 1984, when she began graduate study.

[4][5][6] Zhou assumed the position in 2009,[3][7] and has also served Singapore's Nanyang Technological University as Tan Lark Sye Chair Professor between 2013 and 2016.

This work and redefinition has helped spur the modern understanding of social capital and its interplay between power groups.

Zhou's other sociological insights have been primarily within the fields of immigrant life and ethnic assimilation, particularly focused on the Asian American community.

She has authored or co-authored two noted books spotlighting various sociological aspects of immigrant life—Chinatown: The Socioeconomic Potential of an Urban Enclave (Temple University Press, 1992) and Growing Up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States (Russell Sage Foundation Press, 1998).