Japan repeatedly demanded her hair, from one to half, and China sensed something unusual: not giving anything
At the site of the archaeological excavation of the Mawangdui Han Tomb in 1972, archaeologists found a female corpse, which was not a dry corpse, and her skin was still elastic. This archaeological excavation immediately attracted the attention of the whole world, Japan wanted to bring a hair back to study, but China did not give anything, so why did the Chinese government make such a decision?
Liu Bang enfeoffed Wu Rui, the King of Changsha
We often study history in two ways, the first way is through reading historical materials, and the second way is through archaeological excavations. Usually, archaeological excavations can support written historical materials.
In the last years of the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang built a large number of civil engineering projects and mobilized the manpower, material and financial resources of the whole country, and the people's lives were miserable, and the class contradictions were extremely sharp. In order to overthrow the rule of the Qin Dynasty, peasants revolted everywhere, and Liu Bang and Xiang Yu were prominent generals in the peasant revolt.
After overthrowing the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang established the Western Han Dynasty. After the last years of the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang has been thinking about why the Qin Dynasty died short-lived, but his thinking did not stand at the height of history, and did not realize that the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty was an important reason for the short life of the Qin Dynasty.
Liu Bang attributed the demise of the Qin Dynasty to the failure to implement the sub-feudal system, so after the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Bang first sealed seven princely states with different surnames, and later many princely states with the same surname. However, as the strength of the local princely states increased, they began to disobey the orders of the central government, which seriously threatened the centralization of power.
To this end, Liu Bang took various cruel measures to kill all six princes, leaving only Wu Rui, the king of Changsha. The reason why Liu Bang did not kill Wu Rui, the king of Changsha, was because at that time there was another country in southern China called the State of Nanyue, which often harassed the Two Lakes region and brought deep disasters to the local people.
Wu Rui existed to resist the invasion of the South Vietnamese state. However, Liu Bang did not particularly trust Wu Rui, the king of Changsha, and sent an official named Licang to supervise him, and when Licang died, he was also buried in Changsha.
A female corpse was found in the mawangdui Han tomb
In 1972, archaeologists discovered the Mawangdui Han Tomb during a field expedition. The Mawangdui Han Tomb is a complete mausoleum that has not been stolen by tomb thieves, so his burial items are particularly numerous, and they are all preserved intact.
After the excavation of Tomb No. 2, a seal was found in the tomb, and the words "Licang" were engraved on this seal. We can conclude that the owner of this tomb was the overseer of Wu Rui, the king of Changsha at that time.
Later, the excavation of Tomb No. 1 was carried out, and a seal was found, on which were engraved the three characters of Concubine Xinchai. This shows that the owner of Tomb No. 1 is Licang's concubine Xin Chai.
In Tomb No. 1, archaeologists found the body of Xin Chai. When she opened her coffin, I saw her soaked in a liquid. After observing her, we found that this body was not a dry corpse, that is, not a mummy as we know it.
The skin of this corpse is still elastic, and we can clearly see her facial expression. So why hasn't Xin Chai's body, which has been more than two thousand years old, not decayed?
The reason why Xin Chai's body did not decay was because it was sealed very well. Although Xin Chai was a concubine, because her husband was a Licang, she also enjoyed the treatment of post-burial after her death.
Her coffin was a four-tiered coffin made of fine nan wood, all closely linked by a tenon structure. In order to ensure the dryness of the coffin, nearly 5,000 kilograms of charcoal were stuffed in the middle of the casket on the third and fourth layers. Charcoal is similar to a desiccant and absorbs moisture very well.
Finally, when the coffin was covered, a layer of white paste mud was also applied around, and the viscosity of the white paste mud was particularly large, which could play a good sealing role. So when the coffin is covered, the inside of the coffin is soon deprived of oxygen, and without oxygen, the body is not easy to decompose, and it has been preserved for more than 2,000 years.
China refuses to allow countries to participate in the research
The news of the discovery of a female corpse in the mawangdui Han tomb quickly spread to the world and attracted the attention of people all over the world. Archaeologists took advanced techniques to study the female corpse, and through dissection, they found that Xin Chai had melon seeds in her stomach. Some people speculate that why Xin Chai died short-lived is most likely caused by eating melon seeds.
Moreover, archaeologists also found schistosomiasis eggs in Xin Chai's body, which means that Xin Chai once suffered from blood-sucking insect disease. It is widely believed that vampire worm disease is a disease endemic to the Japanese race, but when it is also found in Xin Chai, it means that it is a common disease, and it also proves that the record of the "Thousand Golden Prescription" is correct.
After the archaeological excavation in 1972, archaeologists immediately studied the corpse of Xin Chai's daughter. At that time, China and Japan formally established diplomatic relations, and Japan wanted to participate in the study, but was rejected by Chinese.
Later, Japan still hoped to study this female corpse, saying that it could provide a lot of funds for Chinese archaeology. Later, the requirements were further lowered, saying that Japan did not need to participate in the research process of the whole woman, and only needed to get a hair, but it was rejected by China.
The reason why China refused Japan's request was because at this time, not only Japan proposed to study Xinchai, but the United States also wanted to study Xinchai. China was very curious why they wanted to participate, and after many layers of consideration, they found that Western countries wanted to study the genes of Chinese people through Xin Chai.
If the Western powers grasped the genes of the Chinese people, it would be a disaster for China. Therefore, China firmly stated its attitude that we should study it ourselves.
brief summary
The archaeological excavations of the Mawangdui Han Tomb demonstrate the implementation of the county-state parallel system in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty from an archaeological point of view. The owner of the tomb is Licang, which proves that Liu Bang did not trust Wu Rui, the king of Changsha, and Liu Bang had sent people to supervise him many times. Although Wu Rui was the king of a vassal state, his movements were monitored at every turn.
The reason why the Mawangdui Han Tomb can preserve a complete female corpse, I think that in addition to the good sealing of the coffin, it is also related to the groundwater. Because the groundwater enters the inside of the coffin, it further squeezes out the oxygen inside the coffin. And when the coffin was opened, the female corpse did not immediately corrode, because the groundwater invisibly formed a protective film.
The reason why the Chinese government rejected Japan's request is to protect China's genes and to protect the interests of the Chinese nation. Because once the Chinese gene is cracked by foreign countries, then we are a blank piece of paper for foreigners, and it is easy to suffer from them, whether cultural or economic.