What is "xiaopin"

Xiaopin can refer to the following:

• Sketch comedy - A Chinese comedic performance in the form of a short skit between two or more performers. It is similar to Xiangsheng. Both are often performed together in Lunar New Year galas. The main difference between the two forms is that Xiaopin often involves the use of stage props and physical actions of the actors, similar to western comedic skits, while XiangSheng is closer to stand up comedy relying primarily on speech.
• Xiaopin (literary genre), a form of short essay popular in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
  • Notebook style essay
• Late Ming Xiaopin - A book published in the late Ming era.
• Bagatelle_(music)
• Grammatical particle
• A Buddhist Concept

In Chinese literature, xiaopin (小品, Wade-Giles: hsiao-p'in) is a form of short essay, usually non-fictional, and usually being exclusively composed in prose. The The form is comparable to that of Tsurezuregusa by the Japanese monk Yoshida Kenkō. The genre flourished in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.