Background
Her father, Zhou Xuehui, the youngest son of Zhou Fu was a successful businessman who ran many of his brother Zhou Xuexi"s enterprises. She was born Zhou Lianquan (Chinese 周莲荃 or 周莲全), but later changed her name to Zhongzheng.
周仲铮
Her father, Zhou Xuehui, the youngest son of Zhou Fu was a successful businessman who ran many of his brother Zhou Xuexi"s enterprises. She was born Zhou Lianquan (Chinese 周莲荃 or 周莲全), but later changed her name to Zhongzheng.
She attended Beiyang Women Normal School (now Hebei Normal University and then Nankai University for three years. As a junior she left Nankai for Europe on September 21, 1926. Her destination was England to studying medicine but she enrolled at Sciences Po in Paris, obtaining Doctor of Philosophy degree in political science in 1933.
She was the 4th child in a family of two girls and three boys (2 boys died young). Zhou was home schooled initially. She taught at Leiden University for 3 years.
When World World War II broke out they moved to Berlin.
To make a living after the war, she studied painting from 1951 to 1953 under Professor Alfred Mahlau at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg (University of Fine Arts in Hamburg).
She had exhibitions of her paintings in West Germany, France, Italy, Spain and China. Her first book Kleine Sampan was translated into English, French, Italian and Dutch.
Most of her paintings were donated to Tianjin Art Museum (Chinese: 天津艺术博物馆).