Workers remove the top of a jar containing the mummified body of Fu Hou. The mummification of monks is an accepted practice in China, and follows in the tradition of Buddhist monks who left instructions to be followed after their deaths, which often included having them buried sitting in a lotus posture, put into a vessel with drying agents (such as coal, wood, paper, or lime) and surrounded by bricks, to be exhumed later, usually after three years, according to sources cited in Wikipedia. The preserved bodies would then be decorated with paint and adorned with gold. Chinatopix via AP