On October 28, 1926, he and five other Chinese priests (Odoric Cheng Hede, Philippus Zhao Huaiyi, Hu Ruoshan, Melchior Sun Dezhen, and Chen Guodi) were ordained bishops by Pope Pius XI in Rome.

[2] He returned to China in March 1927 and founded Xilei Middle School (Chinese: 天主教锡类中学) that same year.

In 1958 Matthew Yu Chengcai was proposed as the new bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Haimen, Zhu reported the result to the Holy See.

On November 15, 1959, Matthew Yu Chengcai was consecrated as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Haimen in Nanjing, but it was not recognized by the Holy See.

In 1966, Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution, his tomb was completely destroyed by the Red Guards.