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The traditional East Asian calendars divide a year into 24 solar terms (節氣). Xiǎoxuě (pīnyīn) or Shōsetsu (rōmaji) (Chinese and Japanese: 小雪; Korean: 소설; Vietnamese: Tiểu tuyết; literally: "minor snow") is the 20th solar term. It begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 240° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 255°. It more often refers in particular to the day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 240°. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around 22 November and ends around 7 December.

Pentads [link]

• 虹藏不見, 'Rainbows are concealed from view'. It was believed that rainbows were the results of yin and yang energy mixing; winter, being dominated by yin, would not present rainbows.
• 天氣上騰地氣下降, 'The Qi of the sky ascends, the qi of the earth descends'
• 閉塞而成冬, 'Closure and stasis creates winter'. The end of mixing between sky and earth, yin and yang, leads to the dormancy of winter.