Menu signed by Mao Zedong auctioned for a quarter of a million dollars

Mao Zedong signed the menu in fountain pen (Alamy/PA)

An official menu for a state banquet that bears the signature of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong has been auctioned for 275,000 US dollars (£220,000).

Boston-based RR Auction said the menu was for a banquet held in Beijing on October 19 1956, and commemorated the first state visit to China by Pakistan’s prime minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy.