These vegetables are both variant cultivars or subspecies of B. rapa and belong to the same genus as such Western staples as cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower.

The Chinese cabbage was principally grown in the Yangtze River Delta region, but the Ming dynasty naturalist Li Shizhen popularized it by bringing attention to its medicinal qualities.

In 2017, aboard the International Space Station, a crop of Chinese cabbage from a plant growth device included an allotment for crew consumption, while the rest was saved for scientific study.

This group is the more common of the two, especially outside Asia; names such as napa cabbage, dà báicài (Chinese: 大白菜, "large white vegetable"); Baguio petsay or petsay wombok (Tagalog); Chinese white cabbage; "wong a pak" (Hokkien, Fujianese); baechu (Korean: 배추), wongbok; hakusai (Japanese: 白菜 or ハクサイ) and "suann-tang-pe̍h-á" (Taiwanese)[2] usually refer to members of this group.

Pekinensis Group cabbages have broad green leaves with white petioles, tightly wrapped in a cylindrical formation and usually forming a compact head.