Over time, the Royalist Party was mostly reduced in its activities to Northeast China, and very few of its members (among them Puwei and Shen Zengjié) were involved in Zhang Xun's attempt to forcibly restore the Qing dynasty in 1917. Shen was appointed Minister of Education by Zhang, but when the restoration failed, he retired from politics completely. Following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, Puwei proclaimed himself head of the Manchurian independence movement and candidate for ruler of Manchukuo. Nevertheless, the Japanese appointed Puyi as Chief Executive (later Emperor) of the new state.