In order to ameliorate the current situation of low level of mechanization of Chinese cabbage harvesting and lack of supporting technology and equipment, the key technologies of mechanized harvesting of Chinese cabbage were developed based on analyzing the main planting modes and requirements of mechanized harvesting. The mechanized harvesting technique route of cutting root first, and then clamping and guiding, and transporting was determined, and a single-row self-propelled Chinese cabbage harvester suitable for field operation in southern China was designed. The harvester was mainly composed of cutting device, clamping and guiding device, inclined conveying device, horizontal conveying device, collecting device, hydraulic transmission system, etc., and a single-row and one-time harvesting method was adopted to complete the operations such as cutting roots, clamping and guiding, conveying, and packing of Chinese cabbage. In order to obtain good operation performance of the machine, the theoretical calculation and analysis of the key devices and components were carried out, and finally the actual operation performance of the harvester was further verified by five repeated field tests according to other relative national standards. The Chinese cabbage variety planted in the test plot was “Zaoshu No.5”, which adopted a wide-ridge and multi-row planting mode in open field. The soil in the test plot was clay loam, the ridge surface width was approximately 900mm, the planting spacing was ranged from 300mm to 350mm, and the row spacing was ranged from 340mm to 400mm. Field test results showed that when the working speed was approximately 0.30m/s, and motor driving speed of the root cutting device, the clamping guide device and the clamping guide device were 300r/min, 300r/min and 175r/min, respectively, the average productivity of the Chinese cabbage harvester was 0.11hm2/h, the average qualified rate of root-cutting was 93.40%, the average success rate of clamping was 95.86%, and the average success rate of delivery was 100%, and the average operating loss rate was 7.84%. Moreover, the working parts of the harvester worked stably and showed a good harvest effect, which indicated that the harvester prototype basically meeting the requirements of mechanized harvesting of Chinese cabbage, and providing a reference for solving the problem of Chinese cabbage mechanized harvest.