Xiao Diao is popular among towns or countries and characterized by fixed melody and lyrics, orderly structure, and subtle and melodious tunes. The participation of some professional artisans and men of letters in writing lyrics and composing makes it more beautiful, some of which have become qupai tune name and formed many variants such as "jasmine tune" , "mengjiangnu tune"; some of the xiao diao of the Ming and Qing dynasties have developed into the styles of interlinked qupai or cyclic forms such as "five dadiao" of Shandong Province, "kunqu" of Xing County of Shanxi Province, "daqiang" of Zuoquan of Shanxi.
(ChinaCulture.org August 2, 2005)
