When talking about body preservation and mummies, people all over the world think of Egypt and the mummified bodies of Pharaohs, such as Tutankhamun. But how many know that the world’s best preserved bodies actually come from China?
Xin Zhui died in 163 BC. When they found her in 1971,Despite the fact that she had been buried for over two millennia,her hair was intact, her skin was soft to the touch,and her veins still housed type-A blood.
She may be 2,100 years old but she still has soft skin, all her own hair and eyelashes and her arms and legs can still bend.
And the Lady of Dai is considered the best preserved mummy ever discovered.
Xin Zhui, the Lady of Dai, died between 178 and 145 BC, at around 50 years of age. The objects inside her tomb indicated a woman of wealth and importance, and one who enjoyed the good things in life. But it was not the precious goods and fine fabrics that immediately caught the attention of archaeologists, rather it was the extraordinarily well-preserved state of her remains that captured their eyes.
And so much mystery still surrounds the case, that a musical about Lady Dai's life is playing in China.
The show, called Beauty of the Han Dynasty is described as a lovely story about Lady Dai and her husband Li Cang.
It is being played in Changsha city, the provincial capital of Hunan Province where the mummy was found.
After analysing her body, scientists believe that Lady Dai died aged 50 from heart disease due to her lavish lifestyle.
Her body was so well preserved that they also believe the last thing she ate before her death was melon.
When her tomb was discovered the body had been buried with her wardrobe of 100 silk garments, 160 carved wooden figures representing her servants as well as her make up and toiletries.