She returned to Shanghai after the Mukden Incident and the ensuing Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, and organized the National Salvation Association with Shen Junru to advocate resistance against Japanese aggression. She also partnered with prominent activists as Soong Ching-Ling and Luo Shuzhang to specifically train women to support soldiers. She was forced to flee Shanghai after it fell to the Japanese in 1937, and Hong Kong after that city's fall in 1941. She spent several years in Guilin during the remainder of the Second Sino-Japanese War.