The film, running around one hour in length, was made by Jia while he was attending the Beijing Film Academy and stars his friend, classmate, and now frequent collaborator, Wang Hongwei in the title role.
[1] The film follows a poor cook in Beijing as he tries to find his way back home for the Spring Festival.
As one obstacle after another seems to appear before him, Xiao Shan soon realizes that his goal is moving ever further out of reach.
The three men then began work on Jia's feature film debut, Xiao Wu, which was completed in 1997.
[1] Like his later film Still Life, Xiao Shan Going Home uses intertitles seemingly divorced from the narrative, including one intertitle giving a resume-like listing of Xiao Shan's career goals, while another lists the broadcast schedule for a television station after narrating to the audience Xiao Shan's plan to go watch TV with a friend for the evening.