Previously he also served as Communist Party Secretary of Maoming, a city in Guangdong province.
Between 2008 and 2013, he served as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
He worked as a farm hand as a child, entering a local production team when he was only ten years old.
Following the Wukan protests, on January 16, 2012, Zhou was detained by investigators from the anti-graft agency of the Communist Party.
[2] On February 8, 2013, Zhou was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party for "serious violations of discipline and law."