A museum in Dalian unveiled a panda specimen preserved with its organs and muscles intact, the first of its kind in the world.

The Mystery of Life Museum, in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, worked with the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Panda to make the specimen.

The new technology used to preserve the bear was more advanced than traditional taxidermy which only preserves the fur and skin of a creature, so the bones, muscles and internal organs of the panda could also be preserved, the museum's director Sui Hongjin was quoted as saying by thepaper.cn.

The panda, which was called "Xinni'er," died of natural causes on February 26, 2016.

The privately owned museum stressed that the project review process took nearly a year, and had been approved by the authorities.

However, some panda lovers have attacked the museum as well as Sui for what they say as "a lack of respect for life." On August 11, a day before the specimen was revealed, Sui teasingly posted the lyrics of a Chinese folk song along with the photos of the specimen on Sina Weibo, to generate anticipation for the specimen. The lyrics read "your eyes are big and black as if you've been punched."

Sina Weibo user "zhiguo" questioned on Saturday, "How could these specimen-crafters joke about the deceased?"

Sui responded by saying that the "light-hearted" lyrics were just posted to express her excitement after overcoming difficulties in the preservation process, news site thepaper.cn reported on Saturday.