People all over the world think of Egypt when talking about body preservation and mummies, but how many people know that some of the best-preserved bodies in the world are actually in China?

According to some scientists, what the ancient Chinese were able to achieve in body preservation leaves the Egyptians in the dust. The body of "Lady Dai" of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC–AD 25), housed in the state-of-the-art Hunan Museum, attracts flocks of visitors every day.

This September, there is no need to travel Changsha City in Hunan to pay her a visit. The US National Geographic Channel will feature Lady Dai and two other Han-dynasty mummies on the September 6 season opener of its Most Amazing Discoveries series.

The segment, entitled "The Diva Mummy," is a production of Natural History New Zealand (NHNZ) and View Point Communications, a production company that is affiliated with the China International Communications Center (CICC), the National Geographic Channel and Arte.

In 1971, at the height of the Cold War, workers digging an air raid shelter near the city of Changsha uncovered an enormous Han dynasty-era tomb. Inside it they found over 1,000 perfectly preserved artifacts, as well as what some claim is the most perfectly preserved corpse ever found.

The tomb belonged to Xin Zhui, the wife of the ruler of the Han imperial fiefdom of Dai. Xin Zhui, the Lady of Dai, died between 178 and 145 BC at around 50 years of age. The objects inside her tomb indicated that she was a woman of wealth and importance, and one who enjoyed the finer things in life.

But it was not the exquisite lacquer dinnerware, the exotic foods or the fine fabrics that paved her way to fame, but the extraordinarily well-preserved state of her remains. The mystery of how ancient Chinese morticians preserved them so well and for so long has baffled scientists for years.

The body is in such good shape that it can be autopsied by pathologists as if it were only recently dead.

When Lady Dai was found her skin was supple and her limbs could be manipulated; her hair was intact; her type A blood still ran red in her veins, and her internal organs were all intact.

Archaeologists and pathologists are still pondering the possible reasons for her amazing state of preservation. Was it the elaborate tomb construction that protected the body? Or, more controversially, it could have been the mysterious liquid in which the body was immersed. Was that strange substance an elixir of immortality?

Two other bodies in a similar state of preservation have been found within a few hundred miles of Lady Dai’s tomb. One was a magistrate by the name of Sui; the other was Ling Huiping, the wife of a powerful Han Dynasty lord.

The three corpses have provided archaeologists with much information not only about their deaths, but also about their lives. Xin Zhui's medical profile may be the most complete ever compiled of an ancient human being. It has been revealed that she suffered from a series of parasites, had lower back pain and was overweight at the time of her death.

Her body also reveals clogged arteries and a massively damaged heart, a clear indication that heart disease brought on by obesity, lack of exercise and an overly rich diet was as much a health problem in ancient times as they are today.

With highly elaborate reenactments and state-of-the-art computer graphics, "The Diva Mummy" dramatizes Lady of Dai's splendid world and her equally splendid afterlife as well as the mysterious process that kept her so well preserved.

NHNZ Managing Director Michael Stedman said the production builds on the already strong relationship the company has with Chinese companies. NHNZ has brought five documentaries about China to the world market in the past two years, including the popular "Panda Nursery."

Zhang Dongxia, chair of View Point Communications, said the experience of working with NHNZ was great. "We are extremely excited about the success of the film. We look forward to working with more international companies in the future and learning from their filmmaking and marketing experience."

(China Daily August 25, 2004)