Where do the body exhibit bodies come from?
Where are the bodies for the exhibit from? The bodies are donated by Chinese governments and dissected at the Dalian University in Liaoning. Most of them are “unclaimed bodies” that can include executed prisoners.
Each BODY WORLDS exhibition contains real human specimens, including whole-body plastinates as well as individual organs, organ configurations and translucent body slices. The spectacular plastinates in the exhibition take the visitor on an exciting journey of discovery under the skin.
Dozens of bodies used in a gruesome exhibit may have come from Chinese political prisoners who were tortured and murdered. Real Bodies: The Exhibition shows 20 cadavers and 200 body parts preserved though plastination and is renowned across the world.
A group of lawyers, academics and human rights campaigners has called on the federal government to shut down a controversial Sydney exhibition, amid claims the show could be displaying the bodies of executed Chinese political prisoners.
These real human bodies have been meticulously dissected, preserved through an innovative process. Concerns have been raised by human rights advocates that the bodies are those of executed Chinese prisoners, and that the families of the victims have not consented.
Today, the most common sources are body donation programs and “unclaimed” bodies—that is, bodies of individuals who die without relatives or friends to claim them for burial or without the means to afford burial. In some countries with a shortage of available bodies, anatomists import cadavers from other countries.
Body Worlds has been criticised for using unethically sourced bodies, but today claims that all bodies on display are of people who have given their informed consent. The Amsterdam exhibition mixed the exhibition of plastinated bodies staged in evocative poses with the display of individual organs.
The bodies have been preserved through a method known as plastination, which drains them of fluids before replacing them with silicone. This allows the skinned bodies to be exhibited in life-like poses.
In the case of exhibits of plastinated human bodies or organs, a special review has to verify that bodies and organs have been donated with full and informed consent of the donors. To exhibit human bodies or organs without free and informed consent is not acceptable.
There's no connection between Real Bodies and Luxor's Bodies the Exhibition; the major difference is that Real Bodies delves deeper into the sociocultural, emotional and historical relationships bound with the body.
Who created the bodies exhibit?
ANGELINA WHALLEY AND PLASTINATOR DR. GUNTHER VON HAGENS. The BODY WORLDS exhibits are one of the most successful travelling exhibitions in the world. On display since 1995, they have attracted more than 50 million visitors in over 150 cities across the Americas, Asia, Australasia, Europe and South-Africa,.
Did you know? When Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered construction of the Great Wall around 221 B.C., the labor force that built the wall was made up largely of soldiers and convicts. It is said that as many as 400,000 people died during the wall's construction; many of these workers were buried within the wall itself.

Plastinated specimens are therefore permanently preserved and if properly cared for they can be utilized for anatomical teaching for an extensive period of time. 1. Van Hagens high-quality plastinated specimens are, in principle, everlasting if treated with appropriate care.
Following these recommendations, the display of plastinated bodies is unethical if there is no individual informed consent of the deceased during their lifetime, based on their free decision and documented in writing.
A pregnant woman who has been plastinated and preserved for display as a Body Worlds exhibit is most likely the body of Zhang Weijie, a former Bo Xilai mistress who mysteriously vanished after challenging Gu Kailai, according to the US-based Chinese-language news site Boxun.
In 2002, two Russian doctors from the University of Novosibirsk were charged with illegally supplying von Hagens with 56 bodies, including convicts, homeless people, and mentally ill people, without consent from their relatives. Von Hagens said that none of the body parts were used in the Body Worlds exhibitions.
The Institute of Human Anatomy is a private human cadaver lab that teaches various healthcare professionals with the use of real human cadavers.
Content Advisory
YOU! The Experience contains displays of real human specimens preserved through plastination or other means. While these specimens offer a unique opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the human body, the displays may be disturbing to some guests.
“Body” can mean alive or dead; “corpse” is definitely dead; cadaver is “a human corpse, esp one used for organ transplant or dissection”.
Body donors must be free of infectious diseases such as HIV, AIDs, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C or Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease. Donor's body weight must be less than 250 lbs. If there has been a violent death, suicide or vital organs have been removed for transplant purposes, the body will be not be accepted.
Do medical cadavers smell?
A cadaver is preserved via the infusion of formalin, which contains formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is colourless and flammable gas, which has an irritating and pungent smell.
Body Worlds endured some public backlash early on in Germany due to the graphic nature of the displays, which include real fetuses and cadavers. When Body Worlds II premiered in 2003, it traveled only to Asian countries, to the United States, and to Canada.
Body Worlds is permanently closed.
BODY WORLDS: THE HAPPINESS PROJECT
BODY WORLDS Amsterdam takes you on a fascinating journey through the human body. With 200 real plastinated bodies on display, BODY WORLDS will teach you all you've ever wanted to know about your own anatomy and how your health affects your happiness and vice versa.
Bodies that end up in water or soil with the right enzymes can have their fat turned into wax. When the rest of the body decays, it leaves just the skeleton covered in thick deposits of tan or grayish-white “soap.” Such is the case with “soap mummies,” whose bodies have converted fat deposits into a waxy substance.
Dr. Gunther von Hagens is a physician, scientist, inventor and a forward thinker who has made the anatomy of the human body accessible to a wide audience in an unprecedented way. “Gunther von Hagens pushes the envelope – he is an intellectual daredevil and adventurer, the type humankind occasionally needs.
REAL BODIES at Bally's simply has much more information, artistic presentations and many more specimens - and a lower price tag - making the exhibition experience an overall better value for the visitor.
While everyone's experience in the exhibition may be different, on average the highly immersive REAL BODIES at Bally's takes between 45 and 60 minutes to explore. However, all guests are welcome to stay and be fascinated by the 11 thought-provoking galleries as long as they like.
There are nine BODY WORLDS exhibitions, which have been viewed by 47 million people throughout the world.
Later the Ming Dynasty rebuilt the wall. Much of the Great Wall that we know today was built by the Ming Dynasty. The wall was built by peasants, slaves, criminals, and other people that the emperor decided to punish. Soldiers were involved in building the wall and in managing the workers as well.
Why were bodies buried in the Great Wall of China?
Some Chinese (spent) their entire lives working on the (Great) Wall. If workers tried to run (away) or complain, they were buried alive. (If) the Chinese did not work well, (they) were put to death. The Great (Wall) of China is often called the “(longest) graveyard” because so may people died (while) building the wall.
Or they say how it's actually a huge tomb, as the bodies of the men who perished while working on it were often buried inside (in fact, there have been no bones, human or otherwise, found in the Wall, though a great number of workers did die while toiling to build it).
Among these disadvantages, the most obvious ones are the repulsiveness of the students due to the smell and the formation of irritant fumes from the embalming fluid. Use of formaldehyde and methanol is also not considered environment friendly.
Modern embalming is done to delay decomposition so that funeral services may take place[8]. Plastination is a technique or process used in anatomy to preserve bodies or body parts, first developed by Gunther von Hagens in 1977.
How Much Does Plastination Cost? NBC News reports that plastinating a whole body costs "between $40,000 and $60,000", which isn't cheap. But, as you'll see below, if you choose to plastinate, you won't be paying for the process yourself.
Plastination is a technique or process used in anatomy to preserve bodies or body parts, first developed by Gunther von Hagens in 1977. The water and fat are replaced by certain plastics, yielding specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay, and even retain most properties of the original sample.
Dr. Gunther von Hagens, the inventor of plastination and the impresario behind the Body Worlds exhibitions, says that every whole body exhibited in North America comes from fully informed European and American donors, who gave permission, in writing, for their bodies to be displayed.
Gunther von Hagens invented a plastination technique and created Body Worlds, a traveling exhibit that promotes public engagement with the study of human anatomy. Von Hagens invented the plastination technique in 1977 while working at Heidelberg University in Heidelberg, Germany.
The human body is approximately 99% comprised of just six elements: Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, calcium, and phosphorus. Another five elements make up about 0.85% of the remaining mass: sulfur, potassium, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. All of these 11 elements are essential elements.
The bodies have been preserved through a method known as plastination, which drains them of fluids before replacing them with silicone. This allows the skinned bodies to be exhibited in life-like poses.
Who are the people in the bodies exhibition?
Its shows, called BODIES... The Exhibition, are open now in New York, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and Las Vegas. The corpses this operation displays in the U.S. all come from unclaimed Chinese bodies. Critics say that at best those bodies probably belonged to people too poor to have been buried properly.
As with other commodities, prices for bodies and body parts fluctuate with market conditions. Generally, a broker can sell a donated human body for about $3,000 to $5,000, though prices sometimes top $10,000.
Content Advisory
YOU! The Experience contains displays of real human specimens preserved through plastination or other means. While these specimens offer a unique opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the human body, the displays may be disturbing to some guests.
They require a cadaver laboratory, which can cost millions of dollars. And while cadavers are donated, medical schools bear the cost of preparing the bodies and maintaining them and later burying them, Gholipour reports.
A pregnant woman who has been plastinated and preserved for display as a Body Worlds exhibit is most likely the body of Zhang Weijie, a former Bo Xilai mistress who mysteriously vanished after challenging Gu Kailai, according to the US-based Chinese-language news site Boxun.
Inventor of Plastination, Creator of BODY WORLDS
Dr. Gunther von Hagens is a physician, scientist, inventor and a forward thinker who has made the anatomy of the human body accessible to a wide audience in an unprecedented way.
BODY WORLDS RX in Allentown – Tickets on sale Oct.
The specimens on display show impressive comparisons and contrasts between healthy bodies and organs and those stricken with disease.