At that time, paramount general Gao Yang took control of the court of Northern Wei's branch successor state Eastern Wei and set the emperor as a puppet.
Yuan Huangtou was imprisoned by Gao Yang and, along with other prisoners and against his will, flown via a large kite from the tower of Ye, China.
The History of Northern Dynasties and Zizhi Tongjian record that all the condemned kite airmen died except for him.
"Gao Yang made Yuan Huangtou and other prisoners take off from the Tower of the Phoenix attached to paper owls.
"[6] The Purple Way, a road, was 2.5 kilometres from the approximately 33 metre tall Golden Phoenix Tower.