Shuohua (a way of storytelling) is a feat prevalent in the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. The art of Shuohua gradually matured and its contents and performing styles became more diversified in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). As a result, four categories of Shuohua came into being.

The four categories of Shuohua are Xiaoshuo (small talks), Shuojing (sermon), Jiangshi (history telling) and Hesheng (telling contemporary stories). Xiaoshuo mainly involves short stories and performers usually tell one story as a whole or in several parts. Its subject matters mainly come from the contemporary social life and are closely related to the reality except for some history stories and fairy tales. Shuojing mainly involves sutra stories and stories of different persons, and they also include some subjects related to Buddhism and Taoism. Performers of Jiangshi (also called history tellers) usually tell stories about history records and documents, shifts of dynasties, wars and so on. Hesheng mainly refers to contemporary stories. Length of Hesheng is relatively short and the performers usually tell one story each time.

The recorded texts of Shuohua are called Huaben, some of which are compiled by storytellers themselves and others by persons specially assigned by associations of storytellers. With the development of Shuohua skills and increasing demand for cultural entertainment of the masses in cities, Huaben gradually evolved into written popular literature.