Product Details

• Actors: Nova
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Wgbh Boston
• VHS Release Date: March 28, 2000
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305048991
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,524 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #6 in	Video > Television > WGBH Boston > Nova > Culture & Exploration
  #21 in	Video > Documentary > History > World History & Culture
  #81 in	Video > Special Interests > History

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Perfectly preserved 3000-year-old mummies have been unearthed in a remote Chinese desert, shedding new light on the contact between the East and West in the ancient world. But these don't appear to be the ancestors of the modern-day Chinese people, they have long, blonde hair and blue eyes. New evidence of the lost civilization of the Tocharians along the Silk Road offers more clues to this mystery from the past.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating!, October 10, 2005

By	Dhaval Vyas (Dallastown, PA U.S.A) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This NOVA program is just fascinating. It reveals mummies in China that have western and caucasian characteristics! I didn't even now the ancient Chinese practiced the art of mummification. It also shows a group of people in China who look like they are 60 percent Caucasoid and 40 percent oriential. Check it out if you can find it.

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative Investment, January 10, 2002

By A Customer

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.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Examination of Early Chinese History, July 5, 2000

By	Tracy Davis (California, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.