Exceedingly rare vintage ballpoint signature of Mao Tse-tung on the reverse of a 6.75 x 4.5 Chinese dinner invitation to a Buffet Party hosted by the China-Latin America Friendship Association at the Xinqiao Fandian (Hotel) on Thursday, 27 October 1960 at 6:30 pm, "in order to kindly see off the cultural friendship delegations of Latin American countries." In fine condition, with minor soiling. Encapsulated in a PSA/DNA authentication holder and accompanied by a full letter of authenticity from PSA/DNA.
In 1960, Mao was hard at work cultivating relationships with foreign nations as he planned to develop China from an agrarian economy to a socialist world power. Latin American nations leapt to the forefront of potential partners after the Cuban Communist revolution of 1959. The China-Latin America Friendship Association had been established in Beijing earlier that same year, in March 1960, and soon became the general fortress of cultural infiltration into Latin America. The U.S. diplomat Roy R. Rubottom Jr., who served as Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (1957-60), noted that, also in 1960, Mao Zedong appeared to have 'gone out of his way' to receive Latin American Communist leaders and to exhort them to give their full backing to the kind of revolution he favored.
Chairman Mao met with multiple Latin American delegations in May 1960, and would go on to host Che Guevara in November. These discussions frequently revolved around the shared struggle against American imperialism, as well as general Communist ideals. As a piece linking Mao to ideological revolutions abroad, this is an extremely desirable and exceptionally rare signature from one of the major political and cultural figures of the 20th century.
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