Zhou is one of the most influential economic figures in the world and was ranked 4th by Foreign Policy in the Top 100 Global Thinkers report of December 2010.

Zhou Xiaochuan was born in Yixing, Jiangsu province as the son of Zhou Jiannan and Yang Weizhe . The elder Zhou, persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, became a member of the State Council and the Minister for Machinery Industry in the early 1980s. He was also said to have been one of the mentors of Jiang Zemin.

Zhou Xiaochuan graduated from Beijing Institute of Chemical Technology (now Beijing University of Chemical Technology) in 1975 and received a PhD degree in economic systems engineering from Tsinghua University in 1985.

Zhou is married to Li Ling who runs the Treaty and Laws department of China's Ministry Of Commerce which has played a central role in handling China's trade disputes with the United States under the World Trade Organization.

By 1986, he was working in the State Council on economic restructuring as a member of the Economic Policy Group of the State Council and Deputy Director of the Institute of Chinese Economic Reform Research. He served as Assistant Minister of Foreign Trade from 1986 to 1989 and, between 1986 and 1991, was also a member of the National Committee of Economic Reform. Before the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Zhou was an associate and protege of Zhao Ziyang.

Between 1991 to 1995, he was executive director and vice president of Bank of China. From 1995, he assumed the position of Administrator of State Administration of Foreign Exchange. From 1996 to 1998, he served both as Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China and Administrator of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

During 1998 to 2000, he served as president of the China Construction Bank[4] and oversaw the creation of asset-management companies charged with working out the banking system's bad debt. He also played a part in managing China's vast foreign exchange reserves.

From 2000 to 2002, Zhou was the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Whilst there, he earned the nickname Zhou "Bapi" - literally Zhou "the flayer". He targeted corruption in listed companies, angering many small shareholders who saw their shares fall. In July 2001, Zhou Xiaochuan declared his intention to reduce state ownership in the stockmarket. The stockmarket quickly went into freefall, forcing him to abandon his plans that October.[citation needed] He emphasized the role of market mechanisms and worked to reduce red tape and aimed to protect retail investors.

In December 2002, he was appointed to his present position as governor of the People's Bank of China and also took over the position of chairman of monetary policy committee of the People's Bank of China from January 2003. Currently, he is serving his second and final five-year term.

As leading banking authority, Zhou is in charge of clearing up some $865 billion bad loans in the Chinese banking system. Recently (as of October 2010) he has also been under pressure from the finance ministers and central bankers of the G7 countries, to revalue the Renminbi and change its exchange rate-setting mechanism.

Zhou has published a dozen monographs and over one hundred academic articles in Chinese and international journals. His articles "Rebuilding the relationship between the enterprise and the bank", "Social security: reform and policy recommendations" and book Marching toward an open economic system have all won awards in China.

His career has been devoted to economic reform. To that end, Zhou has had a preference for recruiting overseas educated and trained Chinese, who have experience of real capitalist markets.