After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Jingyun dagu made greater strides in development. The singers were regarded as people's artists or actors. While they continued to sing and tell traditional stories, themes reflecting contemporary life emerged, such as Glorious Journey, Red Flag Over Mount Everest, Patriotism and Roaring Waves, Han Ying Meets Her Mother, and Bai Niu Tells a Story. A number of young artist were trained, with Zhao Xueyi (Bai School), Yang Fengiie (Liu School), Liu Chun'ai (Luo School) and Zhong Yujie (Liu School) ranking as successful young artists.

 Meihua Dagu

Also called Meihua Tune, Meihua dagu is a category of dagu that originated from Qingkou dagu and which flourished in Beijing and Tianjin towards the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China.

Meihua dagu underwent reform and adaptation in the 1920s by Jin Wanchang, a Beiing dagu artist who made the Meihua dagu sweet and lovely in melody.

Lu Chengke, the famous Tianjin stringed instrument player, learned a number of popular tunes and enriched as well as improved the dagu melody and musical effect in accompaniments. He trained a number of girls to sing Meihua dagu, including Hua Sibao, Hua Wubao, and Hua Xiaobao (Shi Wenxiu).

The reformation by Lu led to the development of a woman's voice in singing high pitch. This resulted in the soft and sweet style of the school of Meihua dagu with high pitch tunes for female voices. It became known as the Lu or Hua School and differs from the Jin Wanchang School, which is known for its delicate, minute, refined, elegant, bold, vigorous, and beautiful rendition.

The songs of Meihua dagu are presented as short pieces, and use Beijing dialect in singing. The more famous works include Thoughts of Husband Surging over the Mind of Wang Er Jie and Daiyu Buries Flowers.

After the 1960s, Meihua dagu again went through a period of formation in vocal music. The routine opening words in the slow movement were dropped. This changed the style of using few words which would drag on and on in singing. Fine music filled the air instead. The melody of Meihua dagu became more elegant and pleasing to the ear.

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