In 1905, Zaize, Xu Shichang, Duanfang, Dai Hongci (戴鴻慈) and Shaoying (紹英) were commissioned by the Qing government to visit Europe, Japan and the United States to learn more about their political systems.

Before leaving China, he was injured in an assassination attempt by Wu Yue (吳樾), a revolutionary, at the Beijing railway station, hence his trip was delayed.

When he returned to China a year later, he wrote a memorial to the imperial court, proposing that they follow in the footsteps of Japan and Germany by converting the Qing Empire into a constitutional monarchy.

Even after the revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty and established the Republic of China, Zaize still secretly plotted with some former nobles and others to restore the monarchy.

In July 1928, the warlord Sun Dianying looted the Eastern Mausoleum, where the tomb of Empress Dowager Cixi was located.