In 1971, during Kissinger's visit to China, he made a request to Premier Zhou Enlai to exchange the moon soil for charcoal around Mawangdui. The so-called lunar soil, is the soil on the moon, at that time the United States has successfully landed on the moon, they also brought back a lot of soil from the moon for analysis, this soil is certainly very valuable, at that time the moon landing for China is still a fantasy, we do not have the ability to go to the moon. Kissinger's mawangdui was also the largest archaeological discovery in our country at that time.
Mawangdui is located in Changsha, it is a huge group of tombs in the Han Dynasty, the owner of the tomb is the early Western Han Dynasty Changsha state of Xiang Licang, his family is also buried here, in the Mawangdui excavated these coffins around and below, there are many special charcoal.
Charcoal is also a very common thing, the moon soil is much more valuable than it, it is reasonable to say that Kissinger made this kind of request, Sino-US relations at that time were also good, should not be too much. However, Premier Zhou still politely refused his request, which also made people see that MaWangdui is indeed very important to the country, and directly rejecting the other party's request is still too unwilling to go.
So why did Premier Zhou refuse?
In fact, the lunar soil for China at that time, is indeed a rare thing, but China at that time was already preparing to explore the universe, therefore, the moon landing is also part of our cosmic plan, since sooner or later is to land on the moon, obtaining lunar soil is a matter of time, so the United States provided lunar soil, we are not much use, anyway, we can rely on our own strength to get these things.
The situation of Mawangdui is different, first of all, these charcoals are not ordinary charcoal, their structure is peculiar, the coffins of Mawangdui can do a good job of anti-corrosion, these charcoal is a great contribution they can play a drying and anti-corrosion effect.
Kissinger wants to get it, but also wants to study these characteristics of it, which can be used in its own science and technology, charcoal in the military, medical, daily life and other aspects have a great use, especially in the anti-corrosion treatment, these charcoal in Mawangdui must be able to play a great role.
Therefore, This request made by Kissinger is actually the most beneficial to them, but he did not get his wish, China did not give them these charcoal, for China, Mawangdui is a unique existence, why is it so important? This tomb was first and foremost very well preserved, and at the time of excavation, everything inside the tomb was preserved.
The things unearthed from this tomb are more valuable, the Han Dynasty advocates luxury burial, the tombs of the rich and noble, there are many things to accompany the burial, but it is precisely because of this feature of the Han Dynasty tombs, many later tomb robbers are eyeing the Han tombs, the real preservation of the Han tombs is very rare, and there are even fewer valuable things inside.
Kemawangdui unearthed more than 3,000 cultural relics at once, a large number, and more importantly, there are many types, and the things in this tomb include silk fabrics, books, weapons, pottery figurines and other kinds of utensils. Some of the excavated documents have had a huge impact on the entire Chinese archaeological community.
These cultural relics excavated from this tomb basically restore the handicraft industry and scientific and technological culture of the Han Dynasty at that time, as well as some classic books unearthed, which are the earliest surviving versions. Of course, the most valuable thing is the female corpse unearthed here, Mrs. Xin Chai, who has been dead for so many years, but her body is intact and not even decomposed. At the time of excavation, this also made many archaeologists very surprised, they have never seen such an ancient corpse, in the end how people at that time did a good job of embalming, but also let the archaeologists very curious.
There are some special liquids inside the coffin, and many people speculate that these liquids and antiseptics have some connection, and the charcoal outside the coffin also has a great connection with antiseptics. The emergence of Mawangdui has shaken the world's archaeological community, countless people have come to visit, in the history of the world, there are few such complete tombs unearthed, and this is still in the Han Dynasty period of the tomb, from now so long, I have to say that this is a miracle, so Mawangdui is always a unique existence, no wonder Kissinger also remembers the things here.