This play appeared in Pocci's first collection of Kasperl's plays, published in 1855 under the title Neues Kasperl-Theater. The six short plays it contains were certainly among those that Pocci performed for his children at the Ammerland house on the shores of Lake Starnberg. The author does not seem to have considered performing them outside this private circle, but he did allow the puppeteer Josef Leonhard Schmid to bring them to the stage of his new puppet theatre. Kasperl in China combines the farcical comedy of Punch or the Hanswurstiades of the fair with stereotypical and parodic imagery about the Middle Kingdom.

Arriving in China after a failed emigration to America, Kasperl finds himself in the service of the Mandarin Quingquing, Emperor Schunschi's "Minister of Confused Affairs". While styling his master's pigtail for the audience, Kasperl gets annoyed at not understanding what Quingquing is saying in Chinese and slaps him to death. Kasperl disguises himself as a Mandarin and goes to the hearing in his place, where he argues with Schunschi. When Schunschi retires, he asks for a drink. A barrel is brought to him, but opening it is an actual Chinese puzzle. The ghost of Quingquing finally emerges. Kasperl knocks him out and then resolves to drink tea, promising himself to return to Germany without delay.