Small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) have been implicated in many physiological processes and play important roles in the response to various stresses. In this study, the full-length sequences of six sHSPs: OcHSP19.1, 19.8, 20.4, 20.7, 21.1, and 23.8 were obtained from the rice grasshopper Oxya chinensis transcriptome database. The deduced amino acid sequences of the six OcsHSPs contain a typical α-crystallin domain, which consists of approximately 100 amino acid residues and five β-strands. The phylogenetic analysis suggested that OcHSP23.8 was orthologous to the sHSPs of other species and that OcHSP19.1, 20.4, 20.7, and 21.1 were species specific, whereas OcHSP19.8 did not cluster closely to Orthoptera but was placed on the basal end of the cluster. Developmental stage-dependent and tissue-specific expression patterns were evaluated using quantitative realtime polymerase chain reaction. The six genes were expressed in all developmental stages and showed clear tissue specificity. The cadmium acute experiment indicates that Cd²⁺ can induce the six genes. However, various response patterns were observed among these genes under Cd²⁺ stress conditions. OcHSP19.1, 19.8, 20.4, and 20.7 were highly induced by 2.61mM Cd²⁺ at 24 h. OcHSP23.8 was significantly upregulated by 2.61mM Cd²⁺ at 6 h. For OcHSP21.1, the highest expression levels were found after treatment with 0.87mM Cd²⁺ for 24 h, 1.74mM Cd²⁺ for 36 h, and 2.61mM Cd²⁺ for 12 h. These differential characteristics will facilitate future investigations into the physiological functions of sHSPs.