Zhou Huang

• Died: 1785
• Chinese/Japanese: 周 煌 (Chou Huang / Shuu Kou)

Chou Huang was a Chinese bureaucrat and diplomat who is particularly known for having compiled the Ryûkyû-koku shiryaku, a history of the Kingdom of Ryûkyû based on records written by previous envoys to Ryukyu.

Originally from Szechuan province, Chou Huang accompanied Senior Envoy Quan Kui to Ryûkyû in 1756-1757 to present gifts of congratulation and to perform the ceremonies officially acknowledging and recognizing, on behalf of the Qing Imperial Court, the accession of Shô Boku to the Ryukyuan throne. On the way to Okinawa, the envoys' ship ran aground on coral, and was shipwrecked; everyone made it safely to shore on Kumejima, however, where they erected a shrine to Tenpi (aka Matsu or Mazu), Taoist patron goddess of sailor and of navigation, in thanks.

After arriving in Shuri, the envoys stayed for roughly seven months, during which time Chou Huang compiled his predecessors reports, commented on them, compared them to Ryukyuan records and histories, and wrote his own record of his own mission, along with other observations and thoughts. This would become the Ryûkyû-koku shiryaku, which was later re-published by the Tokugawa shogunate and distributed, and which survives today.