Zhou lahir dengan nama Zhou Yaoping di Changzhou, Provinsi Jiangsu pada 13 Januari 1906 sebagai anak seorang pejabat Dinasti Qing. Pada usia sepuluh tahun, dia dan keluarganya pindah ke Suzhou, Provinsi Jiangsu. Pada tahun 1918, dia masuk Sekolah Menengah Atas Changzhou, di mana pada masa tersebut dia pertama kali menaruh minat dalam linguistik. Dia lulus pada tahun 1923 dengan prestasi.Pada tahun yang sama, Zhou masuk Universitas Santo Yohanes, Shanghai, di mana ia mengambil jurusan ekonomi dan mengambil kursus tambahan di bidang linguistik.[4] Dia hampir tidak mampu melanjutkan kuliahnya karena kemiskinan keluarganya, namun teman-teman dan kerabatnya menggalang dana 200 yuan untuk biaya pendaftaran, dan juga membantunya membayar uang kuliah. Ia hengkang saat Gerakan Tiga Puluh Mei 1925 dan pindah ke Universitas Guanghua, di mana ia lulus pada 1927.
Pada awal 2013, Zhou dan putranya diwawancarai oleh Dr. Adeline Yen Mah di kediaman mereka di Beijing. Dr. Mah mendokumentasikan kunjungan tersebut dalam sebuah video dan memberikan Zhou sebuah permainan Pinyin yang ia buat untuk iPad. Zhou menjadi supercentenarian pada 13 Januari 2016 saat ia menginjak usia 110 tahun. Ia adalah salah satu dari beberapa supercentenarian yang dikenal karena alasan lainnya selain umur mereka yang panjang. Zhou meninggal pada 14 Januari 2017 di rumahnya di Beijing, sehari setelah ulang tahunnya yang ke-111. Istrinya meninggal pada tahun 2002, dan putranya meninggal pada tahun 2015.
Zhou Youguang (Chinese: 周有光; pinyin: Zhōu Yǒuguāng; 13 January 1906 – 14 January 2017) was a Chinese economist, banker, linguist, sinologist, publisher, and supercentenarian, known as the "father of Pinyin", a system for the romanization of Mandarin Chinese, which was officially adopted by the government of the People's Republic of China in 1958, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1982, and the United Nations in 1986. During the Cultural Revolution, Zhou was sent to live in the countryside and to be "re-educated", as were many other intellectuals at that time. He spent two years at a labour camp.After 1980, Zhou worked with Liu Zunqi and Chien Wei-zang on translating the Encyclopædia Britannica into Chinese, earning him the nickname "Encyclopedia Zhou".[5] Zhou continued writing and publishing after the creation of Pinyin; for example, his book Zhongguo Yuwen de Shidai Yanjin (中国语文的时代演进), translated into English by Zhang Liqing, was published in 2003 as The Historical Evolution of Chinese Languages and Scripts. From 2000, he wrote ten books, of which some have been banned in China. In 2011, during an interview with NPR, Zhou said that he hoped to see the day China changed its position on the Tiananmen Square killings in 1989, an event he said had ruined Deng Xiaoping's reputation as a reformer.[9] He became an advocate of political reform, and was critical of the Communist Party of China's attacks on traditional Chinese culture when it came into power.
In early 2013, both Zhou and his son were interviewed by Dr. Adeline Yen Mah at their residence in Beijing. Mah documented the visit in a video and presented Zhou with a Pinyin game she created for the iPad.[11] Zhou became a supercentenarian on 13 January 2016 when he reached the age of 110. He was one of the few supercentenarians, along with Herman Smith-Johannsen, known for reasons other than their longevity. Zhou died on 14 January 2017 at his home in Beijing, a day after his 111th birthday; no cause was given. His wife had died in 2002, and his son had died in 2015. At the time, he was the seventh-oldest known living man and the oldest known living person in China. He is one of the 100 world's verified oldest men in history.
