Between 1932 and 1933, entrusted by the Communist Party of China (CPC), some dramatists went deep into factories and plants in Shanghai and founded the Blue Shirt Troupe to organize the workers in dramatic performance. Some student troupes and professional troupes also went among the workers, performed dramatic works for them and helped them with drama rehearsal.

During this period, modern Chinese drama also went to the countryside. Xiong Foxi (1900-1965), who engaged in the theater in the early years, went to Ding County, Hebei Province in 1932. There he started a five-year experiment with peasants' drama. At first, he made a tour of performance among the peasants. Then, he decided to help them establish their own troupes when he was sure that the peasants could identify with this new dramatic form. About one hundred peasants' drama troupes were organized within only a couple of years as a result of his efforts. These troupes performed such plays as A Nobody, Fox Spirit Temple, Ox and Transition.

The dramatic activities in the rural areas often took place in simple places such as open grounds and temples. The performance shortened the distance between the actors and the audience so that the actors could step out of the stage and go into the crowd of audience, at the same time, the audience could also step onto the stage as if to take part in a mass meeting. Xiong Foxi said, by "performing on the stage themselves, the peasants opened their own souls".