The term refers to short lyrics and songs. The short lyrics originated from the drinking songs composed impromptu during the drinkers’ wager games at banquets in the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. After the form of the music and the number of words of the lyrics were fixed, it became one of the genres to fill in the lyrics to set tunes. The lyrics were divided into ling (令), yin (引), jin (近), and man (慢), initially based on the rhythms of the music. Ling had the fewest rhythms. Later, the lyrics became separated from the music and could no longer be sung, so some scholars distinguished lyrics according to the number of words, calling short lyrics of about sixty words or less xiaoling lyrics. Sanqu (散曲), or lyric songs, of the Yuan Dynasty consist of xiaoling songs and cycles of songs. As songs, xiaoling are single songs, also called Ye’er (叶儿), which are equivalent to the basic unit of sanqu. Their tunes are mainly folk music from the north of the country during the Yuan Dynasty. However, some of the tunes may also derive from the ci tunes. As ci lyrics, xiaoling should be filled in strict accordance with the lyrical rules, and should be rhymed using either level or oblique tones.Xiaoling songs may insert words outside the melodic form, and the level tone, falling-rising tone, and falling tone can all be rhymed, which make the form more flexible. Gradually integrated with the aesthetic style of poetry, xiaoling lyrics displayed the style of the literati and scholars, paying attention to subtlety and implication. The content of xiaoling songs is more popular among the general public, and the language is mostly straightforward and lively. Be it a lyric or a song, xiaoling masterpieces are concise yet meaningful and rich in rhythm.

The most difficult lyric to write is a xiaoling lyric, just as the most difficult poem to write is a quatrain. It contains a mere ten lines or so, and no sentence or word should remain idle. The last line demands particular attention; it has to be subtle and contain an inexhaustible meaning to be considered good. (Zhang Yan: The Craft of Lyric Writing)

The xiaoling songs he refers to are popular songs sung among the general public. (Wang Jide: On the Melody and Composition of Chinese Operas)