Zhou Bangyan (Chinese: 周邦彥; 1056–1121) was a Chinese musician, poet, and politician of the Northern Song Dynasty. He was from Qiantang (in modern Hangzhou). His courtesy name was Meicheng (Chinese: 美成; pinyin: Měichéng), and his art name was Qingzhen Jushi (Chinese: 清真居士; pinyin: Qīngzhēn Jūshì). He left a two-volume poetry anthology called either the Qingzhen-ji or the Pianyu-ci.

His courtesy name was Meicheng, and his art name was Qingzhen Jushi.^[1][2]

Zhou is especially famous as a composer of ci,^[1][2] a form of poetry that began in the Tang era and flourished during the Song Dynasty.^[1] His complex and elegant poetic style is noted for its polished and elaborate form, and has been praised as "simple and honest, and elegant" (渾厚和雅).^[1] His two-volume poetry anthology is called the Qingzhen-ji (清真集) or the Pianyu-ci (片玉詞).^[1][2]

Zhou was a noted composer of tunes and lyrics, working in close association with the imperial Music Bureau (大晟府 Dashengfu),^{[7][lower-alpha 3]} which presided over court music. He was a proficient musician, and set many of his own poems to music.^[2]

He became known as the "Patriarch of Ci Poets" (詞家正宗),^[2] and is listed along with Liu Yong, Xin Qiji and Jiang Kui as the "Four Great Ci Poets".^[2] His poetry served as a model for ci poets of later eras,^[8] with many imitators among the Southern Song literati.^[4] One example is the He Qingzhen-ci (和清真詞) by Fang Qianli (方千里).^[1]

Chen Yuanlong (陳元龍) of the Southern Song composed a ten-volume commentary on his poetry entitled Pianyu-ji (片玉集).^[1]