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Xiaopin: Chinese Theatrical Skits as Both Creatures and Critics of Commercialism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Wenwei Du
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Extract

Nowadays, when one mentions the word xiaopin in China, everybody understands it as meaning “theatrical skits performed on stage or television,” although the term itself indicates a number of different things. The term “xiaopin” is said to have first appeared in the Jin Dynasty; it referred to the simplified or abridged versions of Buddhist scriptures. Later, the term meant, in a broad sense, “a literary or artistic creation, short in length or small in size and simple in style.” “Xiao” the first Chinese character of the term, means “little,” and the second character can be understood as “a product of good quality” or as a verb meaning “to savour.” When this term is followed by other terms denoting various literary or artistic genres, the meaning becomes more definite. For example, “xiaopin wen” is understood as “short, familiar essays”; “guangbo xiaopin” means “short pieces for broadcasting”; “meishu xiaopin” denotes “artistic sketches.” Since the mid-1980s, however, the popularity of theatrical skits has caused the term to be understood by most Chinese people as simply “short and comic theatrical performances.”

Type
Research Notes
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 154 , June 1998 , pp. 382 - 399
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1998

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