Xinjiang treasures highlight in Taiwan

12-10-2008
Xinjiang treasures highlight in Taipei
WATCH VIDEOSource: CCTV.com
12-10-2008 09:16
She's still called the "Loulan Beauty," even though she's 38-hundred years old. She's the oldest mummy ever discovered on the Chinese mainland. Her remains were unearthed 28 years ago in northwest China's Xinjiang Ugyur Autonomous Region. The "Loulan Beauty" is just one of 150 treasures from "Legends of the Silk Road - Treasures From Xingjiang." The exhibition opened in Taipei, Saturday.
The 150 centimeter long mummy in the glass coffin is a beauty from the legendary kingdom of Loulan. The kingdom disappeared 1600 years ago.

Zheng Yirui, guide of National Museum of Taiwan History, said, "She was not so dark when she was excavated. Her skin was rubicund and her hair the colour of chestnut."
The extremely dry climate perfectly preserved the mummy's eyelashes, hair and figure. Most ancient peoples, like the Egyptians removed the intestines and brain, then cured the body in solution before burial.

The Loulan mummy was buried directly and desiccated rapidly.
Eight years ago the ancient beauty was afflicted with mildew during a tour of Japan. That event nearly prevented her visit to Taiwan.

The Japanese exhibition drew a record turnout of over a million people. The National Museum of Taiwan History promises to maintain the condition of the mummy. The museum says it also expects a record turnout to view the Loulan Beauty.

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