 On 23 January 1920, a confrontation over boycott activities in Tianjin led to the arrest of a number of people, including several Awakening Society members, and on 29 January Zhou led a march on the Governor's Office in Tianjin to present a petition calling for the arrestees' release.Zhou and three other leaders were themselves arrested.The arrestees were held for over six months; during their detention, Zhou supposedly organized discussions on Marxism.