During the late 1970s, a number of new creations appeared. In 1978, the Quanzhou Puppet Troupe produced The Fiery Mountains, a full-length play based on an episode from the mythological novel Journey to the West, which marked the beginning of a new era.
With the establishment of the Association of Chinese Puppet Shows and Shadow Plays in the early 1980s, the Ministry of Culture decided that an annual performance week of puppet shows and shadow plays be held throughout the country.
At the Fourth National Puppet Show and Shadow Play Festival held in Beijing in November 1981, a large number of new puppet shows were presented, such as The Wide Swan, The Tongtian River, Nezha Stirs Up the Sop, A Race Between the Tortoise and the Hare, and The Proud Rooster. These new shows were created to suit the tastes of both adults and children. They also reflected the policy of making puppetry move with the times and serve the needs of the masses.
In the 1990s, Chinese puppetry took on a new look and prepared itself to meet the challenge of market competition. The National Puppet Show and Shadow Play Festival held in 1992 attracted more participants than ever before and featured many outstanding puppet shows.
The Wenhua Award set up by the Ministry of Culture is the top government prize for best puppet shows. So far, the award has been conferred on the China Puppet Troupe for its Magic Suona Horn, the Hunan Puppet Troupe for its Red Cloud, the Shanghai Puppet Troupe for its Nezha Comes Across Visitors From Outer Space and The Toad and the Goose, the Chengdu Puppet Troupe for its Nezha, and the Tianjin Children's Puppet Troupe for its Potbellied Buddha.
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