I just had a thought, but it seems there are only five leaders around the world whose remains are permanently preserved. Among them, some have been kept in a complete state for nearly 100 years, while others were cremated along the way. And that comes down not only to technical measures, but also to the political choices of that era.

The story of Lenin’s body preservation is especially fascinating. When Lenin died in 1924, the initial plan was to bury him normally, but the public’s mourning was so intense that, it is said, an emergency freezing procedure was carried out to prevent the body from deteriorating. After that, Soviet scientists repeatedly conducted experiments, developed a special embalming solution, and established a technique to suppress bacterial growth by replacing the body’s water. The technology that made the permanent preservation of Lenin’s body possible then became the foundation for preserving the bodies of later leaders.

The Lenin Mausoleum is equipped with temperature-control devices, and an expert team constantly maintains and manages it. They carry out repair work every week, perform comprehensive scheduled maintenance on a regular basis, and sometimes even require small-scale transplant surgeries. With such thorough management in place, it was likely possible for Lenin’s body to remain in almost perfect condition for nearly 100 years.

But Stalin’s case is different. Stalin, too, was a Soviet leader; he was placed in the Lenin Mausoleum in 1953, but after political evaluations changed, his body was moved for cremation in 1961. In other words, whether a body is preserved or not depends decisively not only on technical capability, but also on the political judgments of the time.

The case of Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam is also interesting. He reportedly wished to be cremated during his lifetime, but his successors decided to preserve his body. During the Vietnam War, his body was hidden in a mountain cave and kept there for 5 years, while Soviet experts completed the embalming treatment underground while avoiding bombings. It was a preservation effort carried out at great risk to life.

Preserving the body of Nétú in Angola is said to have been even more technically difficult. Soviet specialists reportedly specially developed a pigment preservation technique for Black skin in order to solve the issue of pigment leakage. Even so, it remains a limited exhibition: it is opened to the public only once a year on his birthday.

Because Gottwald’s embalming technique was insufficient, his body decayed and was cremated in 1962. Dimitrov’s body was preserved for more than 40 years, but amid changes in the political situation in Eastern Europe, it was cremated and buried in a regular cemetery. The body of Jöba Mountain in Mongolia was also placed in a mausoleum after embalming, but in 2005 the mausoleum was destroyed, and in the end he was cremated according to Buddhist rituals.

In the end, the permanent preservation of bodies is the result of both technology and history. Even with advanced embalming techniques, that alone is not enough—if the political understanding and values of the era shift, then no matter how perfectly preserved a body is, cremation may still be an option. Lenin’s body in a crystal coffin is, I think, both a proof of humanity’s technological capability and a mirror of history.