zhou was born in 1957 in hangzhou, zhejiang, china. he was admitted to wenzhou medical college in 1977 and graduated 1982. his wife xiao-yi sun (孙小依) was his classmate at the college. he subsequently earned a master's degree from zhejiang medical university, where he pursued his research interest in hpv. he then earned his m.d. at henan medical university (now medical school of zhengzhou university) and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at beijing medical university, before moving to the university of cambridge in 1988 to continue his research in cancer and virus.