In Hsinking, Wanrong was closely monitored by the Japanese and had to do as they instructed. She began to detest the Japanese and secretly planned to escape on two occasions. Wellington Koo recalled in his memoirs that when he was in Dalian, he once met a man (possibly disguised as an) antique merchant who said he was sent by Wanrong to seek his help in escaping from Hsinking. Koo could not help her because of his status then. Koo later wrote in his memoir "..My attendant said that he knew this man in Beijing and that he could meet him. He told me that this man was disguised as an antique dealer to avoid the attention of the Japanese (perhaps he had been an antique dealer). I went out to the porch and we stopped at the corner. The man told me that he was sent by the Empress. He said she asked me to help her escape from Changchun because she knew I was going to Manchuria; he said she felt miserable about her life because she was surrounded by Japanese attendants in the palace (there were no Chinese attendants there), and her every move was watched and denounced. She knew that the emperor could not escape, and if she could, she could have helped him to escape. another incident, around August or September 1933, when the wife of Zhao Xinbo (趙欣伯), a Manchukuo official, was preparing to leave for Japan, Wanrong approached her and asked her for help. However, Wanrong's plan was discovered by Puyi's sister, Yunying, who was in Japan then. Yunying told Puyi about it; Wanrong's plan to escape failed again. Wanrong also pleaded with Puyi to escape to America, with the aid of her father's (Rong Yuan) American business contacts.