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Props to the New York Times for rooting out a China scoop that covers all of those hot China topics -- human rights, sourcing and intellectual property rights -- all at once. And all of this is done while covering the topic of the country's growing cadaver industry. Ick. But it's one of those things that is potentially so awful, partly because it is not far-removed from some very real issues and problems here, that you can't help but keep reading. Basically, the grisly industry has sprung up because of Mr. Gunther von Hagens' (aka Dr. Death or Dr. Frankenstein) controversional plastinized cadaver exhibitions:
Inside a series of unmarked buildings, hundreds of Chinese workers, some seated in assembly line formations, are cleaning, cutting, dissecting, preserving and re-engineering human corpses, preparing them for the international museum exhibition market.The mastermind behind this operation is Gunther von Hagens, a 61-year-old German scientist whose show, "Body Worlds," has attracted 20 million people worldwide over the past decade and has taken in over $200 million by displaying preserved, skinless human corpses with their well-defined muscles and sinewy tissues.
But now with millions of people flocking to see "Body Worlds" and similar exhibitions, a ghastly new underground mini-industry has emerged in China.
With little government oversight, an abundance of cheap medical school labor and easy access to cadavers and organs -- which appear to come mostly from China and Europe -- at least 10 other Chinese body factories have opened in the last few years. These companies are regularly filling exhibition orders, shipping preserved cadavers to Japan, South Korea and the United States.
It doesn't take a genius to realize where potential human rights issues start popping up here. Dr. von Hagens explains that all of the copycat cadaver show pieces are sourced from China, where unscrupulous rivals are using "unclaimed bodies." Shanghaiist won't dwell much longer on that thought. The story's subject matter is just so bizarre, and nothing we say here can possibly add to it.
Photo from digitalpretzel.
Plenty of "Body Worlds" images at Flickr.
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The link you've put doesn't work, here's the right one - http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/business/worldbusiness/08bodies.html?ex=1155182400&en=95ad4ada9eba77c5&ei=5087%0A.
Shanghaiist is great, but when it comes to some of the posts, you seem not to have been precise enough. First of all, the link you point to as the 'Chinese copycat' is actually an article which is also about the works of Gunther von Hagens! It's just that Zat Liu didn't mention it in his text - as a result people might consider body plastination a 'Chinese thing'. Most of the visitors don't read the comments...
Hi Sinodrom,
The link works fine here--and no other complaints from others I've asked to test it out. What happened when you clicked on it? Just wouldn't load at all?
I removed the link we previously included on the older post on plastination. Didn't mean at all to imply that body plastination was a Chinese thing, as the NY Times story makes it pretty clear the entire cadaver industry in China stems from the von Gunther exhibit, and perhaps those trying to copy his plastination idea.
Hello there,
Well - first I had some problems with loading the NY Times website (perhaps bad luck), and than got the 'Log In Now' screen. Actually, I'm not used to seeing it (somehow I had never seen it before!) and I freaked out :) So I logged on to the NYT main page, and from there found my way to the article. (That's actually quite weird - why does NY Times need the whole log in thing, if you can 'walk around it'?).
Oh, by the way - I'm in Poland, so no censorship stuff involved ;)
Yes, yes - you're right about the NY Times story!
It's the previous Shanghaiist entry I was referring to (Corpses On Parade), where Shanghaiist was writing about the corpse exhibition, and didn't mention the fact, that it was the 'von Hangens thing' and the exhibition featured his plasticized (in Dalian) corpses.
The Dalian factory is owned by von Hagens (冯·哈根斯) and from what I know, there is just the 'Dalian-von-Hangens' exhibition touring around China... So all the previous 'corps stories' at your site were all referring to the creations made by von Hanges' company.
By the way - maybe instead of removing the link, you could title it in a different way than 'Chinese copycat' (if I remember!), because it's not a Chinese rip-off - it's also by von Hagens. And if you could update the Corpses On Parade entry, adding that the company is owned by von Hages - that should settle it. Although you do have some comments, which aren't far from the truth, I think it would be great if you could just clarify the hole thing.
Just in case anyone is curious:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunther_Von_Hagens
http://www.koerperwelten.de/en/gunther_von_hagens.html info about him at his own website, where you can read that: In 2001, he founded a private company, the Von Hagens Dalian Plastination Ltd., in Dalian, China (冯·哈根斯生物塑化(大连)有限公司)
So, to sum up, every corps-related story (this year at least;) ) is about the von Hagens guy, and his Dalian factory.
Sorry for the chaotic style, it's late in Poland and it's been ages since I last wrote in English!
Oh, actually von Hagens wanted to open the factory here in Poland, but due to the WW 2 experience with Nazi concentration camps, people didn't let him do it. The fact that he's German and his father was in the SS definitely doesn't help him!
PS Shanghaiist is great, keep up the good work!