Letter to UK politician from Mao sells for $908,000

A letter from Mao Zedong appealing to the leader of the British Labour Party in 1937 for help against Japanese invaders has sold for 605,000 pounds ($908,000) at auction in London.

In the letter, typed in English and signed by Mao, a founder of New China, asks Clement Attlee, Labour leader and a future prime minister, to lend the support of his party to "any measures of practical assistance".

The buyer at Tuesday's auction was a Chinese private collector, auction house Sotheby's said in a statement.