zhou was born zhou shaoyi () in yiyang, hunan on 9 august 1908. he began to use the pseudonym libo, of which sound is the resemblance of english word "liberty", in the 1930. zhou taught himself english, then he translated some english versions of soviet novels. he was imprisoned for supporting a workers' strike in 1932, on his release he joined the league of the left-wing writers in 1934 and the communist party of china in 1935. he served as a war reporter during 1937–38, and interpreter to agnes smedley meantime. then he went to yan'an and worked at lu xun art institute (鲁迅艺术学院) in 1939.