Atrocities

There is an exhibition some are calling art. Some are calling it a learning lesson in anatomy. Some are in complete awe of it, finding it fascinating. Others are appalled, disgusted, embarrased that a our society today has come to this. They say its inhumane and humiliating to families of their loved ones used in this way. Its called Bodies.....the Exhibition, featuring 15 full-body human corpses from China that have been preserved by a process called plastination. I'm sure you've heard of it. Its been showing around the world since 1995. Plastination, a technique used in anatomy to preserve bodies or body parts. The cadavers are peeled of their skin and arranged in poses...kicking a soccer ball, setting up a tennis serve....alongside 200 other body parts and specimens, including embryos and fetuses from 9 to 32 weeks gestation, all plasticized.

As the news program 20/20 took their cameras into these galleries in New York, it was amazing to me to see that the public was captivated by this exhibition. I almost felt sorry for these corpses being gawked at. This was once someone's father, mother, brother or sister. There was even a pregnant mother displayed with her baby corpse in her womb.

There has been, however an investigation opened by authorities in China and New York into allegations that a black market is using Chinese bodies from executed prisoners to be displayed in the U.S.
Human Bodies on Display: Where Do They Come From?

The investigations come in the wake of an ABC News report, that aired this Friday on "20/20", that features a self-admitted participant of a bodies black market who described "body runs" to locations where bodies, including those of executed prisoners, were sold for $200 to $300.

.....He said some of the bodies were given to Chinese companies that supply corpses preserved in plastic for display in the United States.

Harry Wu, head of the Laogai Research Foundation, a human rights advocate for abuses in China explains:

Wu has raised serious questions about where the bodies in Premier Exhibition's "Bodies…the Exhibition" come from and said the United States government should launch an investigation.

"China executes more prisoners than any other country," said Wu, adding that the most frustrating obstacles in his research is how little information is available about the numbers of executions that take place in China. "We never know exactly how many [were executed]."

......Wu went to prison for 19 years in China for speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party and has been researching the Chinese prison system since he was released in the 1980s.

The times they are-a certainly changin'. I can't say that I like the way its turning out either.