 During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Yuzhan and his father, Puwei, served in the puppet state of Manchukuo, where Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing dynasty, had been installed by the Japanese as Manchukuo's emperor.Puyi later referred to Yuzhan as "Xiaogu" () in his autobiography.When Puwei died in 1936, Yuzhan inherited his father's princely title, "Prince Gong of the First Rank" (), and held this title until 1945.