In the present work, a continuous and highly stable ZIP-8 membrane was successfully synthesized on a macroporous tubular alpha-Al2O3 support implanted with a thin ZnO layer via a simple manual-rubbing ZnO deposition, followed by activation and solvothermal treatment for ZIF-8 membrane growth. The implanted ZnO layer played three important roles: 1) to modify the surface of the macro porous tubes as a intermediate layer to eliminate some large defects of the support surface for favoring the formation of high-quality ZIF-8 membranes; 2) to act as active seeds for the homogeneous nucleation and continuous growth of ZIF-8 membranes after the activation treatment with a 2-methylimidazole solution; 3) to act as anchoring sites between membrane layer and substrate for reinforcing the membrane stability. The resulted membrane was continuous, uniform and showed good molecular sieve performance of H-2 over CO2, N-2 and CH4. Most importantly, it demonstrated superior mechanical stability over seeded secondary synthesis via the traditional dip-coating seeding method. This method was simple and convenient, but also has higher reproducibility and scalability. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.