Zhōu Qǐyuán 周起元 (1571–1626), zì Zhòngxiān 仲先, hào Miánzhēn 綿貞, posthumous Zhōngmǐn 忠愍 (later re-conferred Zhōnghuì 忠惠), was a late-Míng Dōnglín-faction official who died at the hands of Wèi Zhōngxián 魏忠賢’s eunuch faction. From Hǎichéng 海澄 (modern Fújiàn), he passed the jìnshì in Wànlì xīnchǒu 萬曆辛丑 (1601) and rose through Húguǎng dào yùshǐ xúncáo 湖廣道御史巡漕 to Yòu qiān dū yùshǐ xúnfǔ Jiāngnán 右僉都御史巡撫江南 — Governor of the lower-Yangzi region, the most lucrative gubernatorial post of the late Míng.
In 1626 (Tiānqǐ 6), under Wèi Zhōngxián’s eunuch bǎnyuè (placard-list) persecution of the Dōnglín faction, Zhōu was framed and arrested; he died under torture at the Jǐnyī prison together with the famous “Wǔ rén 五人” (Wǔ Bīn 吳賓 et al.) of Sūzhōu — the case memorialized in Zhāng Pǔ’s 張溥 Wǔ rén mù bēi jì 五人墓碑記. Zhōu was the most senior official to die in this round of persecution. After Wèi Zhōngxián’s fall in 1628, Zhōu was posthumously promoted Bīngbù shìláng with Zhōngmǐn posthumous title; later re-conferred Zhōnghuì under Lóngqìng-era restoration. Míng shǐ j. 245 has his biography.
His memorials are preserved in the KR2f0033 Zhōu Zhōngmǐn zòushū 周忠愍奏疏 in 2 juàn: Xītái zòushū 西臺奏疏 (11 memorials from his Húguǎng dào yùshǐ xúncáo tenure) and Fǔ Wú zòushū 撫吳奏疏 (19 memorials from his Jiāngnán governorship). The collection as preserved also includes his biographical materials (juàn 1 of the original recension), Lányán lù 蘭言錄 (eulogistic verses), Chóngsì lù 崇祀錄 (sacrifice-shrine records), and 7 surviving poems — all gathered piecemeal by descendants over time. CBDB id 128858 (no lifedates in CBDB; 1571–1626 from external sources including Míng shǐ and Wikidata).