Mao envelope for Bo Xilai's father sold for 6.55m yuan
An envelope addressed to Bo Yibo and another comrade has been sold for millions at auction, but contents of the letter itself are kept secret
A handwritten envelope by Mao Zedong addressed to Bo Xilai’s father, Bo Yibo, and another Chinese military leader has fetched 6.55 million yuan (HK$8.28 million) at the China Guardian’s Autumn Auctions in Beijing yesterday.
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| A photo of the envelope uploaded by the China Guardian auction house on its official Sina Weibo account. Photo: SCMP |
“To Mr Fu Yisheng and Mr Bo Yibo,” Mao wrote in brush. The envelope was printed, “From the People’s Revolutionary Military Committee of the Central People’s Government”, an agency that existed between 1949 and 1954, preceding what is now China’s Central Military Commission.
The letter within the envelope was not part of the auction yesterday.
Fu Yisheng, also known as Fu Zuoyi, was a Nationalist-converted general who served in the People’s Republic.
Rosaline Cheng, a marketing consultant for China Guardian in Hong Kong, said no further information was available regarding the contents of the letter or the recipients’ roles at the time.
“Under regulations of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, leaders’ letters cannot be auctioned,” she said, “but the envelope could be.”
She said that, based on estimates, the envelope could be from the early days of the People's Republic, established in October 1949.