Xiaosheng

'little (gentle)man') is a male role type in Chinese opera and a subtype of the sheng.

This role is often featured in romantic dramas and requires the ability to play with the fan to exude an air of elegance and class.

[2] Although optimistic for the future, he is dejected and frustrated, and drags his feet in half-on shoes when he walks.

A wuxiaosheng with some stature[4] wears a cap with two long pheasant tail feathers attached and is known as the zhiweisheng or lingzisheng (雉尾生 or 翎子生, "pheasant-tail sheng"); this is usually a young general or a general's young son.

Jia Baoyu (an aristocrat), Tang Sanzang (Buddhist monk), Xu Xian (physician), Jiang Yuhan (actor) and Han Xiangzi (mythological figure) are examples of other xiaosheng characters.