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One evening in downtown Vancouver last November, some of B.C.’s political and business elite rubbed elbows with executives of one of China’s largest state-owned corporations, China Poly Group.

They were celebrating the launch of a boutique art gallery by one of China Poly’s many subsidiaries, Poly Culture Group, which operates the third-largest auction house in the world.

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Under the watchful eye of Vancouver police in tactical gear, attendees admired four rare bronze zodiac heads — a tiger, monkey, ox and pig — that had once adorned the Summer Palace in Beijing.

It was the first time these cultural relics — looted following the palace’s destruction by British and French forces in 1860 — had been displayed outside China since their repatriation.

Photo by AFP/Getty Images

The opening of a gallery and North American headquarters here by Poly Culture was the culmination of intense behind-the-scenes courting by local politicians — especially Liberal MLA Teresa Wat, then B.C.’s international trade minister — and was hailed in government documents as a major economic win and “significant day for British Columbia in its relationship with China.”