Zou made his debut at the 2006 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Aarhus, helping the Chinese Team win gold, and placing sixth at the individual floor exercise final.

At the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Zou achieved the same results, winning the team competition and again placing sixth on floor.

After being left out of the Chinese Gymnastic Team at both the 2010 World Championships in Rotterdam and 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou due to weaknesses in the apparatuses he did not specialize in, Zou again won two gold and one silver medals at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Tokyo, matching his feat back in 2009.

He was unable to defend his title in the horizontal bar however, finishing less than two tenths of a point behind the lead, eventually winning a bronze medal in the event.

Zou participated in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, winning gold in both the floor exercise and horizontal bar individual events, as well as a bronze medal as part of the Chinese team.