Vignettes from the Late Ming: A Hsiao-p'in AnthologyThis anthology presents seventy translated and annotated short essays, or hsiao p'in, by fourteen well known sixteenth and seventeenth century Chinese writers. Hsiao p'in, characterized by spontaneity and brevity, were a relatively informal variation on the established classical prose style in which all scholars were trained. Written primarily to amuse and entertain the reader, hsiao p'in reflect the rise of individualism in the late Ming period and