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A humble cabbage became one of the Forbidden City’s treasures (2025)

70 points by dude250711 2mo ago

jackyinger 1mo ago
I have seen this in person, it really is remarkable how the artist used the natural color gradient in the stone. The entire museum is well worth a visit.
Ir0nMan 1mo ago
https://archive.is/rRDdk https://archive.is/rRDdk
- dredmorbius 1mo ago
  Firefox Reader Mode also bypasses CNN's nags.
  - thunderbong 1mo ago
    That's cool. Didn't know about this. It also worked in Vivaldi for me.
Procrastes 1mo ago
It really is beautiful. It also makes me think of Sir Terry Pratchett, which is a good thing. If this were Ankh-Morpork, it would be a stunningly realistic carving of a cabbage—carved from another, larger cabbage.
- undersuit 1mo ago
  The high resolution picture on Wikipedia is amazing: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Jadeite_Cabbage%2C_National_Palace_Museum.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Jadeite_...
guessmyname 1mo ago
> The cabbage is often referred to as one of the institution’s “three treasures,” along with two other popular artifacts — namely the Meat-Shaped Stone, a piece of jasper carved to resemble braised pork belly, and the Mao Kung Ting, a traditional cooking vessel featuring the longest known inscription of ancient characters on any item of Chinese bronzeware. The trio are often collectively described as “pickled cabbage pork hotpot” by tour guides and as a marketing gimmick. • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadeite_Cabbage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadeite_Cabbage • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat-Shaped_Stone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat-Shaped_Stone • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Gong_ding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Gong_ding • https://theme.npm.edu.tw/exh106/npm_anime/cabbage/en/index.html https://theme.npm.edu.tw/exh106/npm_anime/cabbage/en/index.h... • https://theme.npm.edu.tw/exh106/NorthandSouth-4/en/index.html https://theme.npm.edu.tw/exh106/NorthandSouth-4/en/index.htm... • https://theme.npm.edu.tw/exh104/npmforfun/en/mediaworks/mediaWork5.html https://theme.npm.edu.tw/exh104/npmforfun/en/mediaworks/medi...
mrlonglong 1mo ago
Older than Liz Truss chuckles
leoprctmp 1mo ago
Why is Chinese cabbage so commonly seen in high-end jade carvings in China? It's because the Chinese word for cabbage, baicai(白菜), sounds like "hundred fortune(百财)". And there are many similar symbolic expressions in traditional Chinese culture.

70 points by dude250711 2mo ago

I have seen this in person, it really is remarkable how the artist used the natural color gradient in the stone. The entire museum is well worth a visit.

Ir0nMan 1mo ago

https://archive.is/rRDdk https://archive.is/rRDdk

dredmorbius 1mo ago
Firefox Reader Mode also bypasses CNN's nags.
- thunderbong 1mo ago
  That's cool. Didn't know about this. It also worked in Vivaldi for me.

Procrastes 1mo ago

It really is beautiful. It also makes me think of Sir Terry Pratchett, which is a good thing. If this were Ankh-Morpork, it would be a stunningly realistic carving of a cabbage—carved from another, larger cabbage.

undersuit 1mo ago
The high resolution picture on Wikipedia is amazing: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Jadeite_Cabbage%2C_National_Palace_Museum.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Jadeite_...

guessmyname 1mo ago

> The cabbage is often referred to as one of the institution’s “three treasures,” along with two other popular artifacts — namely the Meat-Shaped Stone, a piece of jasper carved to resemble braised pork belly, and the Mao Kung Ting, a traditional cooking vessel featuring the longest known inscription of ancient characters on any item of Chinese bronzeware. The trio are often collectively described as “pickled cabbage pork hotpot” by tour guides and as a marketing gimmick. • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadeite_Cabbage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadeite_Cabbage • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat-Shaped_Stone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat-Shaped_Stone • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Gong_ding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Gong_ding • https://theme.npm.edu.tw/exh106/npm_anime/cabbage/en/index.html https://theme.npm.edu.tw/exh106/npm_anime/cabbage/en/index.h... • https://theme.npm.edu.tw/exh106/NorthandSouth-4/en/index.html https://theme.npm.edu.tw/exh106/NorthandSouth-4/en/index.htm... • https://theme.npm.edu.tw/exh104/npmforfun/en/mediaworks/mediaWork5.html https://theme.npm.edu.tw/exh104/npmforfun/en/mediaworks/medi...

mrlonglong 1mo ago

Older than Liz Truss chuckles

leoprctmp 1mo ago

Why is Chinese cabbage so commonly seen in high-end jade carvings in China? It's because the Chinese word for cabbage, baicai(白菜), sounds like "hundred fortune(百财)". And there are many similar symbolic expressions in traditional Chinese culture.