Although not a member of the Qing imperial family, Roung Ling was given the title of "commandery princess [zh]" while serving as a lady-in-waiting for Empress Dowager Cixi.

In Paris, she was placed in charge of the sisters of the Sacred Heart Convent School (ancien Couvent du Sacré-Cœur) located at 77 Rue de Varenne.

The weekly magazine Armée et Marine reported that the four children of Minister Yu Keng "superbly performed" the English comedy in three acts, Sweet Lavender,[2] at a soirée organised by their father.

[12] The Yu couple gave their daughters unheard-of freedom to enjoy European-style ballroom dancing with close body contact with foreign men.

[11] After attending the coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra, Prince Zaizhen and his entourage were greeted by the Yu family on their return from London.

For the latter she improvised a few dance steps during their first meeting, Duncan was deeply impressed by her talent and decided to teach her for free;[15]:166–167 she thus became one of the first Chinese to learn Western choreography.

"[9] Shortly after the fall of the Qing Empire, in 1912, Roung Ling married Dan Pao Tchao, a nephew of Tang Shao-yi,[8] who studied at the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr in France,[19] and was counsellor in the office of the Republican president with the rank of general.

During the Republican era (1912–1949), she was appointed Mistress of Ceremonies to President Li Yuan-hung, and the couple enjoyed a prominent position in Peking high society.

In 1921, she gave a speech in English about her life in the Manchu imperial court at the Teng Shih K'ou Congregational Church, in aid of the "School for Poor Children" charity funds.

[21] The American writer Grace Seton-Thompson met Roung Ling while being greeted in a public audience with President Li Yuan-hung.

She is also Madame President's (吳敬君) contact with the diplomatic circles in Peking", Thompson wrote in her travelogue Chinese Lanterns; "she skillfully combines the elegance of the West and the nobility of the East, forming a charm beyond imagination.

[24] The British writer Harold Acton acknowledged Roung Ling's pivotal cultural role in the new Republic in his book Memoirs of an Aesthete.

In 1926, the American diplomat John Van Antwerp MacMurray filmed a three-minute sequence of Roung Ling performing a "Sword Dance" in front of the Temple of Heaven.

[28] After the communist takeover of China in 1949, Roung Ling and her husband managed by various strategies to negotiate their survival during the early years of Mao's regime.

After an interview in April 1957, the photojournalist Zhang Zudao (張祖道) gave a description of his first impression of Roung Ling which shed some light on her later life: "She has a well-featured face, no wrinkles except for the forehead.

Bright eyes, fair skin, she is of well-proportioned, medium stature, with a tidy haircut with both sides tucked neatly behind the ears.

A thin coat of face powder and lipstick, close-fitting black velvet dress in Chinese style with shiny antique silver buttons, making her look elegant especially in a 'workerised, peasantised and soldierised' society where the monotonous short hair for everyman, pigtails for everywoman and bluish-grey uniform for everyone.