Setting aside for a moment that Chinese workers may or may not be getting mistreated and overworked so that you can have your iPads and iPhones, we bring you this heart-warming tale of a seventeen-year-old student in the city of Chenzhou, China, who decided to sell one of his kidneys in exchange for $3,500, with which he bought an iPhone and iPad. "Where'd you get the money for that?" his mother asked, noticing one of his shiny new Apple products. "Oh, I sold a kidney," the kid apparently told her. more ›

From Beijing's picturesque Tianamen Gate, former Mayor Gavin Newsom unenthusiastically tweets to his followers back home in California: "the perfunctory tourist photo in Beijing..." more ›

In what's proving to be a race to the bottom for the current crop of GOP candidates, Rick Santorum,—whose "Made In America" platform plan would prune corporate income taxes on manufacturing companies in order to keep jobs in the country—loves investing in overseas companies almost as much as he loves America. Much of his money goes to companies that outsource manufacturing work to factories in "China, Thailand, Malaysia and other countries." more ›

For a one-day tasting event (known to the horrific as a "pop-up"), In-N-Out, arguablyCalifornia's best purveyors of hamburgers, opened a temporary stand in Shanghai. As Serious Eats notes, "The menu at the tasting advertised some not-so-secret menu items and didn't have the full line up of drinks or fries, but otherwise looked similar to the regular menu." (No fair posting Animal Style! Is nothing sacred, God?) more ›

Over in China, the Wine Institute, an association of California wineries, is using the Golden State's effortlessly cool image to sell mid-range wine abroad. As the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports, the Wine Institute pushed a year-long ad campaign in Shanghai featuring images of the Golden Gate Bridge and a blond kid carrying a surfboard through a grassy field — all to get the attention of an emerging middle class of Chinese wine drinkers. more ›

Via our sister site Shanghaiist, this poster was found outside an Android store (possibly a fake/imitation store or open source OS) in Sichuan, China. The poster reads, "Steve Jobs has kicked the bucket. Why would you still be buying Apple?" There also appears to be an Android critter kicking a black Apple logo. Charming. more ›

In crazy-guy-on-the-bus news, Aaron Peskin--former Board of Supervisors President and scribe of a 37-page letter to the Ethics Commission claiming shenanigans in Progress for All’s Ed Lee mayoral campaign--gave an interview to The Epoch Times recently. He claims that, among other things, Rose Pak and THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA are corrupting the election in San Francisco. more ›

This seems totally inevitable, but the country that brought you many millions of knockoff Louis Vuitton purses and fake Rolex watches now features multiple fake Apple Stores. As the AP reports today, the stores look a lot like real Apple stores, with very Apple-like posters, blond wood display tables, and salespeople in blue logo t-shirts with those same white, necklace nametags. more ›

Where has Gov. Schwarzenegger been during the San Bruno fire disaster, you ask? In China! The former movie star cum California politico headed East to sign part of the East Span of the Bay Bridge, check out the high-speed rail train in Shanghai, hawk California pistachios and wine, and meet with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan... more ›

An 80-person entourage including Newsom, former mayors Willie Brown and Frank Jordan, Nancy Pelosi, Di Fi, and BART board of directors president James Fang, begins a tour of China today in celebration of San Francisco's 30-year-long sister-city relations with Shanghai. more ›

"A lot of the quakes this year have unfortunately happened in populated areas, and as a result casualties and damage are in the news," an expert says. "The variability year to year is very large, but the rate this year is not higher than normal." more ›

by Amy Crocker According to the Wall Street Journal, it's increasingly likely that Mountain View-based Google will cancel operations in China as negotiations with the government over censorship stall. There's a lot of legal drama in a story like this and we think it is much more fun when imagined as a Western showdown... more ›

Here's something to think about the next time you want to post your next iPhone rant on Twitter: "Apple products are made in factories that regularly employ young teenagers, constantly work people more than 60 hours per week, and falsify records to cover up their misdeeds." (Makes your push-related battery drain seem less fury-inducing, doesn't it?) This, according to Ryan Tate at Valleywag, stems from a report on Apple's "Supplier Responsibility 2010 Progress Report" (PDF), which seems to reveal all sorts of lousy stuff. It was an audit done by Apple, so we're sure Jobs is on the job, if you'll excuse the pun. That said, we still love our Apple products -- so shiny, so new, so overwhelmingly neat-o. But you can expect rabid Apple fans to lose their collective shit in five, four, three, two... more ›

Google has threatened to pull out of China after massive cyber attacks against itself and other foreign companies. more ›

Some of you may recall the replica of a 17th Century Chinese war junk that toured through San Francisco last fall. It was called the Princess Taiping and its mission was to complete a round trip journey from Taiwan to prove that Chinese sailors may have reached North America before Columbus. Well, sadly (but also comically), in the waters just off Taiwan, the Princess Taiping was struck by a freighter and sunk just 30 miles from the end of its 14,000 mile journey. more ›

The insane worldwide panic preceding a potential (though unlikely?) worldwide pandemic of swine flu reached new heights today, with Australian flights from California being screened before deplaning and a woman in Hong Kong hospitalized after visiting (gasp!) San Francisco. more ›

Yesterday in San Francisco, a free Tibet protest march was held, ending at the Chinese consulate. The protest marked the 50th anniversary of the failed uprising that sent the Dalai Lama into exile. (It seems like eons since we've had a pro-Tibet protest, doesn't it?) more ›

Team Newsom recently kicked off a nightclub-sounding economic development initiative called ChinaSF. The "public/private" partnership will help connect businesses in China to San Francisco and the Bay Area, helping cash-rich Chinese companies looking to invest or set up shop in North America. So far, SF has scored sweet deals with Trina Solar, a global solar-power company of note, and China Daily, a state-run English-only paper in China. Looks like that Olympic torch mess and human rights violation cheek-tuning San Francisco saw earlier this year was all worth it, right? more ›

Jesus! Will you look at that smile? How unbelievably disarming is she with that incredible cuteness? Union City native Vicky Galindo is the Roberto Clemente of adorable, petite girls with radiant perky smiles. She plays second base and bats leadoff with power well beyond what that tiny, inviting frame would suggest. And while you were asleep or else losing last night to meth, Vicky was busy allowing zero opposing batters to reach base in an 11-0 thrashing of Venezuela. more ›

She went to Cal-Berkeley, she holds eight world records, and she is notorious as one of the most babealiciousest swimmers alive. Concord native Natalie Coughlin has a ridiculous-busy schedule of swim competition in this year's Olympics, but her big race today is the Womens 100-meter... backstroke. She holds the current world record, and she'll be putting it on the line in a pool full of fit, gorgeous ladies. Here's hoping Natalie will backstroke the daylights out of the competition!
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Will you watch the Beijing Olympic opening ceremonies tonight? more ›

(By Joe Kukura) more ›

Oops. A lady who staged a faux hanging from the roof of the Chinese consulate in San Francisco today "to protest human rights abuses in Tibet" was taken to a hospital after she buckled and plummeted. Nyendak Wangden, 22, of SF suffered non-life-threatening injuries.She was whisked away to a local hospital for treatment. Protesters at the consulate, however, claim her rope was cut. Today's protest comes two days before the Beijing Olympic opening ceremonies. more ›

As if you needed any more proof that an eclipse is a demonic portent of doom, the Exploratorium has announced that it will be sending an expedition to someplace near Mongolia to videotape the eclipse on July 31 ... . Not, like, into the sky of Second Life -- just onto a big virtual projection screen, which your avatars can then gather around and stare at until distracted by a crowd of furries humping a leprechaun. more ›

Former Marin resident and current insane person, Sharon Stone, made the following Jerry Falwell-ish quip the other day. more ›

Some images of today's torch relay/protest/insanity/Newsomness as the torch run turned into, well, complete chaos. Whew, what a day. more ›

Pretty sneaky, Gavin. more ›

Care of Justin.tv. Also, for more live blog coverage, visit studentsforafreetibet. more ›

Show is over, everyone. The torch is on its way to South America now. To check out images of today's flame switcheroo acrion--including "No MSG" man and more--go here. Whew. more ›

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