 During this time he developed an interest in Daoism and in exploring the remote mountainous areas of Western China.In 1939 following the Japanese invasion of China, Goullart secured an appointment as a representative of the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives (an agency of the Kuomintang Government), first in what is now western Sichuan, then in 1942 in the ancient city of Lijiang, in the North-Western corner of Yunnan Province.He lived in Lijiang for over eight years at the time when it was an important transit stop on the vital trading and supply route from India to China during World War II.