The bronze statue of the zodiac at Haiyan Hall in the West Building of Yuanmingyuan was designed and produced by Emperor Kangxi under the guidance of French Catholic missionaries. From the etchings painted by missionaries, it can be clearly seen that the bronze statues of the Chinese zodiac are lined up on the left and right, and each statue has six, representing the twelve hours of the day respectively. Every hour, the bronze statue of the twelve zodiac animals representing this hour automatically spits out the fountain from its mouth. At noon, the twelve bronze statues spew out the spring water at the same time. These bronze statues were designed by westerners and made in China, which blended eastern and western cultures.
Emerald Watermelon, a cultural relic of the Qing Dynasty in China, is a pair of tourmalines imported in large quantities from the United States. Its skin is blue and green, with dark green stripes: the black melon seeds and red melon pulp in the melon can still be seen vaguely. Deeply loved by Empress Dowager Cixi, the emerald watermelon was buried with her after her death and stolen by warlord Sun Dianying. A peerless national treasure, whose whereabouts are unknown at present.
Gold thread and jade clothes were mainly unearthed in Han Dynasty. Jade clothes, also known as "jade box" and "jade stick", were worn by emperors and high-ranking nobles in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) after their deaths, and their appearance was the same as that of the human body. Jade clothes are a symbol of the wearer's status. The jade clothes of the emperor and some of his recent ministers are all made of gold thread, which is called "gold thread jade clothes", while other nobles are made of silver thread and copper wire, which are called "silver thread jade clothes" and "copper wire jade clothes".
Golden wisps of jade clothes are the highest standard mourning clothes in Han dynasty, which appeared in the period of Jurchen King Kawaguchi. According to Xijing Magazine, the emperor of the Han Dynasty used a jade box with beads for burial, which was shaped like armor and connected by gold thread. This kind of jade box is what everyone says every day. At that time, people were superstitious that jade could make bones immortal, and regarded jade as a noble ritual vessel and a symbol of status.