The five bulls that were saved in the nick of time

EDITOR's Note: Every week we look at a work of art or a cultural relic that puts the spotlight on China's heritage.

One midnight in late spring, 1951, a telegraph machine whirred into action, its dit-dit, da-da, punctuating the silence of a British-style building in Hong Kong.

A telegraph operator promptly put the telegram into an envelope and sealed it, before leaving the building.