On 1 March 1934, the Japanese government proclaimed Puyi as the Emperor of Manchukuo and Wanrong as his Empress. The couple lived in the Russian-built Weihuang Palace (now the Museum of the Imperial Palace of the Manchu State), a tax office that had been converted into a temporary palace while a new structure was being built. Apart from Puyi's coronation in 1934, Wanrong only made one other public appearance as Empress of Manchukuo, in 1939, when Prince Chichibu visited Manchukuo on behalf of the Shōwa Emperor to mark close ties between Japan and Manchukuo. While these were the only big state ceremonies she participated in, she is noted to have made smaller public appearances; in Wild Swans, she was noted to have participated in the official visit of the Emperor to Jinzhou in September 1939, where the mother of the author was selected to present flowers to the Empress on her arrival to the city.