An unidentified woman gazes at the plastinated body of a man in a plastination center in Dalian, Liaoning Province. (Photo: www.yzdsb.com.cn)

An unidentified woman gazes at the plastinated body of a man in a plastination center in Dalian, Liaoning Province.

The center was established by Gunther von Hagens, a German anatomist who invented the plastination technique originally as a way to preserve biological tissue specimens.

Plastination was later used for complete human corpses for four controversial art exhibits (Body World and Body Worlds 2, 3, 4), the first of which was in Japan in 1995. The Dalian plastination center has a 150-square-meter workshop with 20 autopsy tables.

Chinese employees use tweezers and pliers to slowly remove the flesh and fat to expose the muscles, nervous system and bones. All the bodies are willed to van Hagens' center.

"Workers have to clean a body in 1,500 to 2,000 hours." said a female employee. The finished works are sent to exhibitions all over the world.

Source: Global Times

Editor: Xie Fang