L iterary gems abound in an auction of 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:books and manuscripts at Sotheby’s London – yet the sale also contains two lots of historical note, ꦿone political and the other personal, from the hand of Chairman Mao Zedong at two diametrically opposed points in his life. The first involves an extraordinary correspondence between two world leaders, while the second lot offers a unique glimpse of Mao engaged in one of his greatest passions: reading and writing Chinese classical poetry.

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In 1937, Mao Zedong – then the leader of the Chinese Communist Party – was situated in the party’s headquarters of Yan’an, a remote enclave of northwest China. Mao had recently struck an uneasy alliance with the Nationalists so they could collectively fight against the Jaꦑpanese army. Few people, especially westerners, had access to Mao while he was posted up there. But James Munro Bertram, a New Zealand-born journalist who’d worked in Great Britain, was a notable exception. Bertram had helped Deng Yinchao, a member of the Communist party, evade the Japanese army and escape to safety – an act that helped engender trust between him and Mao.

Bertram’s presence in Yan’an influenced Mao, as evidenced by a 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:letter written by the Chairman coming to auction. “It looks like Bertram realized that he could make a difference,” says Gabriel Heaton, Director and Specialist of Books and Manuscripts at Sotheby’s London. Bertram happened to be acquainted with Clement Attlee, then-head of Britain’s Labour Party and future Prime Minister, and facilitated Mao writing directly to Attlee. “It’s this incredible moment where you have this guerrilla leader stretching out right across the world to the Labour Party in Bri𒈔tain,” Heaton explains, “calling for international solidarity on the left against fascism and imperialism.”

The existence of Mao’s letter, last sold a decade ago to a private collector, is remarkable for a number of reasons. “The letter itself shows that Mao was quite aware of what was going on politically in Britain at the time,” Heaton says. Originally written in Chinese, the l൲etter – typed and thought to have been translated by Bertram, who almost certainly🌟 had a role in drafting it as well – is signed by Mao himself in addition to other prominent Chinese Community Party figures, including Zhu De.

Although there’s no evidence that Mao and Attlee kept up a correspondence beyond this single letter, they did meet in 1954, after Attlee had been Prime Mini꧒ster and the United Kingdom became the first Western country to acknowledge the People’s Republic of China. “It’s a really st🤪riking historical moment,” Heaton adds. “Mao was not writing to European leaders frequently at this point at all, so it’s a very early example of Mao writing as an international statesman.”

A second lot features a 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:manuscript with annotations made ꦆby Mao, this time near the end of his life. A dedicated reader since primary school, Mao was especially taken with the canon of Chinese Classical vers൲e by Tang dynasty poets including Du Fu and Bai Juyi. He also wrote poetry of his own. While grappling with declining health and waning sight in his later years, Mao struggled to read and articulate himself. Di Lu, the Chinese Classical scholar, would read to him, but she sometimes had a difficult time understanding him. She then asked Mao to write down his꧋ thoughts so as to better facilitate their conversations.

Their meetings resulted in this rare manuscript, which details specific poets 🐷and particular lines that captivated Mao, with written commentary on what he made of them. “The 😼fact that he is spending time and clearly really focusing his attention on Classical poetry is striking,” Heaton says.