Cheap NOVA: Mysterious Mummies of China (Video) Price

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Customer Reviews of NOVA: Mysterious Mummies of China

Informative Investment
This was a great documentary on the mummies found in China. It discussed the Chinese government's attempt at a cover-up of the discovery. Very informative, and I am happy with the purchase, however I recently viewed a video by the Discovery Channel on the same mummies, and it went into a little more depth than this one as far as analyzing textiles found on mummies, and whether or not the actual wool used in making the clothing was from sheep indigenous to China or elsewhere. Had I not seen the Discovery channel video, I would have given this Nova one 5 stars. But both are definitely worth watching.

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Excellent Examination of Early Chinese History
The "Mysterious Mummies of China", part of PBS' Nova Series, is a wonderful search into a hitherto unknown and, in the case of the Chinese government, ignored subject: the discovery of non-Chinese mummies in the Takla Makan desert of Western China. With fair or red hair and European features, these mummies threaten the long-standing idea in Chinese history that China developed without any contact until the Middle Ages. The documentary also provides a glimpse into the lack of official effort to preserve the mummies or excavate for more knowledge of who these people were. One telling scene relates how one mummy found by a non-Chinese team had been beheaded and an Asiatic head put on the body! The documentary also shows how the modern people of the region, in the quest for autonomy, are interested in the mummies to prove their claim that they are not Chinese in origin. Cave paintings as well as other archaelogical and forensic evidence force the viewer -- and hopefully the Chinese government -- to re-examine who may have shaped Chinese history besides the Chinese themselves. Well worth seeing.