HONG KONG – The original manuscript of the famous “Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung“, handwritten by the Chinese leader himself(Mao Tse-Tung), was sold at auction last night for 500 Million Dollars (USD).
A Taiwanese billionaire, Tseng Shin-Yi bought this unique book for 3,875 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$500 million).
The manuscript was auctioned by Mao Zedong’s own daughter, Li Na. It is said to be the most valuable items ever listed and sold at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center.
It is considered the most printed book in history and commonly known in the West as the “Little Red Book”.
“It was an opportunity of a life time, I feel heart broken for not being able to bid higher” – says Yim Shah-Choi, one of the richest businessman and Chinese government representative in Hong Kong.
The bidders were so keen to buy the original book that the price went sky high just in first 10 minutes. This auction fetched the incredible price of HK$ 3,875 billion, totally smashing the record for the most expensive modern manuscript.
Tseng Shin-Yi the winner of this auction is one of the three founders of the petrochemicals maker Chang Chun Group. He is a well-known for his nationalist and anti-Chinese opinions, and is listed by Forbes magazine as the 19th richest in Taiwan in 2015.
His victory in the auction has created a scandal in China, and many perceive this as a betrayal and an insult to national pride. Politicians have called for the auction to be cancelled, and for the document to be rendered accessible to the Chinese public.
Currently Chinese government has not responded or shown any reaction, and it seems that Mr. Tseng will be able to take possession of his new property. He did not specify what he intends to do with his this book, but many Chinese fear it could become a sort of “war trophy” in Taiwan or even be destroyed.
“Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung” is a book of selected statements from speeches and writings by the former Chairman of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong. It is considered the basis of the Maoist doctrine and played a key role in the Cultural Revolution that took place in the People’s Republic of China from 1966 to 1976.
According to official statistics from 1964 to 1976, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung was published in over 40 versions, with a total printing of 1,055,498,000 copies.
