Lawyers have found a legitimate plaintiff to sue Christie's in France over its planned sale of two bronze relics looted from Yuanmingyuan, China's Imperial Summer Palace.

Liu Yang, who heads 85 volunteer lawyers, said since October the group has been preparing a lawsuit to stop auction house Christie's from selling bronze rabbit and rat heads from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) at its Paris auction scheduled for Feb 23-25.

The plaintiff will be the Global Aixinjueluo Family Association registered in Hong Kong, and the 400,000 yuan lawsuit is being financed by a Chinese firm, he said.