Chinese buns in general may be divided into two types, depending on the degree of leavening of the flour skin.Steamed buns made with raised flour are seen throughout China and are what is usually referred to as baozi. Steamed xiolongbao made with partially raised flour are more commonly seen in the south. This means that their skin is tender, smoother, and somewhat translucent, rather than being white and fluffy.
Xiaolongbao are traditionally filled with pork, but variations include other meats, seafood and vegetarian fillings, as well as other possibilities. One popular and commonly seen variant is pork with minced crab meat and roe. The characteristic soup-filled kind are created by wrapping solid meat aspic inside the skin alongside the meat filling. Heat from steaming then melts the gelatin-gelled aspic into soup. In modern times, refrigeration has made the process of making xiaolongbao during hot weather easier, since making gelled aspic is much more difficult at room temperature.
Semi-leavened dough is uncommon in northern China, and in those parts of China small buns made with fully leavened dough are often also called "xiaolongbao". These buns are sometimes marketed as "Hangzhou-style" to distinguish them from the Jiangnan-style buns.
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