Emerald was introduced to China from Myanmar and was deeply loved by the princes and nobles of the Qing Dynasty, especially Emperor Qianlong. "Emerald Cabbage" is the best of jadeite, and this one in the National Palace Museum in Taipei is the best of all. It is not only one of the top ten national treasures of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, but also the "signboard" of the National Palace Museum in Taipei. This "jade cabbage" comes from the palace of the Qing Dynasty. It is said that it was written by a talented craftsman, and it was his painstaking work. According to the natural shape and color of jade materials, craftsmen exert their extraordinary imagination and finally design the most suitable shape, which has achieved the reputation of "jade cabbage" in quantity and quality. "Jade cabbage" is named after its shape like cabbage. Its body is as white as snow and its leaves are green and bright. Its green and white are particularly easy to like. In the greenest part of the vegetable leaf, the craftsman also specially designed two kinds of insects-the owl and the locust. These two kinds of insects are very fertile, so they have the meaning and hope of having many children and grandchildren.
In March 2007, Taiwan media exposed the surprising news that the insects of "cabbage" had to be broken, which triggered a heated discussion among people on both sides of the strait. When and how was the "Jade Cabbage" damaged? There are many rumors. Scholars who love cultural relics said that there were cracks in the "cabbage" at the Kaohsiung Exhibition in 2003, but then the National Palace Museum in Taipei took out a photo of "cabbage" taken by 1966, in which it can be clearly seen that the insect whiskers had been broken. Therefore, it is speculated that it was damaged during the transportation of "Jade Cabbage" by the Kuomintang to Taiwan Province Province in 1949. Some people even speculated that it might have been damaged as early as the Qing Dynasty, but in the end experts and scholars did not get a clear answer.
According to the records of the cultural relics in the Forbidden City, "Jade Cabbage" was first moved out of Yonghe Palace in the imperial palace, which was the residence of Jin Fei, the love princess of Guangxu, so it was later speculated that "Jade Cabbage" was Jin Fei's dowry. But this is not the case. Jin Fei also has a sister, Zhen Fei, who is also the beloved princess of Guangxu. Both sisters are the daughters of assistant minister Chang Xu, and they were elected to the palace together as adults. "Jade Cabbage" was actually the dowry of my sister Zhenfei at first, but later Zhenfei was forced to death by Cixi because of a series of illegal acts such as contradiction with Cixi and participation in political reform and reform, so that "Jade Cabbage" eventually changed hands with Jinfei.