People's Republic of China was established in October of 1949. Ever since then, Zhejiang folk arts have revived to greater development and prosperity with the support from the Chinese Communist Party and people's government at all levels.

In the seventeen years from 1949 to 1965, Zhejiang folk arts have achieved a lot under the Party's cultural guidelines.

In the first place, the Party and the government have strengthened the their role as the leader and the administrator of folk arts.

In the early years after liberation, the country aimed to encourage variety, got rid of the stale and brought forth the fresh in the field of folk arts. According to this guideline, the essence of the country's First Cultural Congress in 1949 and the country's Traditional Opera Conference in 1950, and The Government Administration Council's Instruction as to Traditional Opera Reform, the Zhejiang Culture Department held a meeting in Jan 1951 to launch reforms. While there were reforms of artists, of plays, and of the whole system in traditional opera circle, the department also reinforced their leadership in folk arts. They took various measures to strengthen the teams, to encourage creative works, and to rescue and revive traditional arts. As a result, folk arts experienced a new birth and changed fundamentally.

In May of 1966, the Cultural Revolution began and caused Zhejiang folk arts to wither. All the artists were forbidden to do singing-and-talking. All the troupes were smashed first and soon disbanded. Though not dismantled officially, the Zhejiang Folk Art Team existed in name only as the elderly and the middle-aged artists were all subject to public denouncement while the young transferred to Zhejiang Song and Dance Troupe for roles in model Beijing opera. All the folk art associations were illegally dissolved. Except for some young actors and actress who were sent to the Mao Zedong Thought Propaganda Teams of all levels, most of the performers were forced to change their profession. Some had to work in shops and factories while some were repatriated to their hometown. All stages in Zhejiang were closed. Many famous artists were criticized, denounced and even tortured.
In spite of the fascist absolutism to folk arts by "the Gang of Four", some artists in Zhejiang Province still insisted that folk arts popular with the mass would not be snuffed out and that they should further promote the variety of the art. They fought back in many ways. Zhejiang Folk Art Team made great efforts to break the durance and got a surprising success with Ping Tan. In the spring of 1971, several Ping Tan artists of the team went to the countryside to observe the real life. Three months after they got back, they produced the short story Snowflakes Greeting The Spring, which once on stage found strong echoes and won universal applause. From 1971 to 1976, the team kept producing a series of new programs, such as short Haiping, Ocean Deep, The New Woman Captain, the medium sized Ride The Whirlwind, Fort Of The Battle, and the introductory songs of Brave The Wind And Waves, A Grain Of Rice, Beautiful Scenes of River South in March. The last two which was led by a male and a female voice and accompanied by a chorus, took part in the Autumn Guangzhou Chinese Export Commodities Fair of 1973, the National Day Capital Singing Get-Together of 1975 and the National Invitational Folk Art Festival of 1976. Wherever they went, they revoked hearty responses.
	Riding Skills

With the shatter of "Gang of Four", the Cultural Revolution was put to an end in 1976. Chinese Culture, including Zhejiang folk arts began to revive. In May 1977, Chun Yun came to Hangzhou to convoke "Ping Tan Forum" of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. He addressed the folk art circle a speech entitled Views On Contemporary Work of Ping Tan, which greatly encouraged the artists and played an important role in the recovery and development of Ping Tan. Especially after the 3rd Session of the 11th China National People's Congress, the pace of recovery sped up. By the first half of 1979, the 26 dissolved troupes and teams had been re-organized one after another. Performers came back to the profession; the closed stages opened again; the forbidden traditional programs were re-staged. In March 1979, the Zhejiang Folk Artists Association was reactivated, and so were all the other folk art associations in the province.
 
     Meanwhile, since 1977, Zhejiang Province has held every year the folk art script-writing conference and work processing conference. The Provincial Folk Art Association specially set up a script-writing committee to layout and direct writing. Writing has become the emphasis. The work processing conference is usually in the off-season. The Zhejiang Cultural Department or Zhejiang Folk Art Association would invite many artists and writers with both performing experience and writing skills to stay together for at least a week or at most a month. During their stay, they can help each other, exchange their opinions and draw on the wisdom of the masses to create, adapt, revise and process some works. This method produced rich fruits with both ideological content and artistic quality. The following is some examples of such works which later become repertoires: the medium-length The New Tale of the Pipa, Sky in the Lower World, The Destined Couple, The Peach Well Case, Beauty Trap, Xian Heng Hotel, The Mystery of the Explosion, full-length Dong Xiaowan, Mt. Bailuo, Beheading An Dehai, Hangzhou Ping Hua Hai Rui,Wenzhou Gu Ci Wang Shipeng, Shaoxing Lian Hua Luo Stirring Mt.Ji. Since equal importance is put on modern, revised historical and traditional programs, writers can find abundant subject matters. Still, more and more new programs are staged since the annual conference gives great inspiration to create longer pieces.
 

Active writing naturally leads to active performance. Since the reform and the open-up, Zhejiang Culture Department, Zhejiang Folk Art Association and culture sections in all places organize joint performances or send artists to the national folk art festivals almost every year. In the twenty years from 1977 to 2001, there have been more than 30 joint performances in the province. In 1984, 10 Ping Tan troupes and teams took part in the joint performance that was held in Hangzhou. This is the largest one since liberation for Ping Tan artists to exchange their views and skills. Some Ping Tan artists also participated the inter-provincial performance held by Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai and the intercity performance held by Yangsu, Suzhou and Hangzhou. In particular, Zhejiang province also selected excellent programs and artists for the two folk art festivals held by The Culture Ministry in 1979 and 1982 respectively. It is through these performances that many super artists and programs stand out.
 
     The prosperity of Zhejiang folk arts is closely related to its diverse physiognomy and dialects. The northern plain of Zhejiang Province around Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou, where rivers crisscross the beautiful landscape, is the hometown of the melodious Tan Huang and Tan Ci; The meandering eastern hills around Ningbo, Shaoxing and Taizhou give birth to the bold and humorous Lan Hua Luo, Zou Shu and Luo Di Chang Shu; The towering mountains and deep forests around Jinhua, Quzhou and Yan in the west breed the resounding Dao Qing and Lian Hua; The mysterious seaside mountains in the south around Wenzhou, Rui'an and Yueqing grow rustic and strong-flavored Gu Ci, Yu Gu and Xin Wen; And there are no better place to cultivate vivid and exquisite Ping Hua, Xiao Re Hun and Monodrama than the busy flourishing streets of cities like Hangzhou, Ningbo and Wenzhou. The blossom of Zhejiang folk arts, rich and colorful, is blooming everywhere in Zhejiang Province and will stay forever young.