On March 18, 1926, she and a group of Beijing students held a protest against Duan Qirui's government.
After her graduation, she was teaching in Chinese Opera College in Beijing to support her husband's studies in Japan.
But after 3-month study, she travelled back to China and join the Nanking Drama School in October 1935.
Shortly after returning to Beijing, she went to Yan'an to join Yang Hucheng's army, working in civil affairs office of the Shaanxi Government.
[1] This led to Mao divorcing He Zizhen, while Wu Lili was banished from Yenan and sent with other women to join a flying squadron of propagandists attached to the army.