We already knew Yao had a soft touch around the basket and middling math skills, but who knew he wanted to be a sommelier? The former 9-time NBA All-Star intends to sell his own wine in China, proving once again that he is the most interesting man in the world. more ›

Want to donate towards relief efforts in Yushu, Qinghai but not sure how? more ›

Attention, all y’all who want to capture some of that Olympic vitality: 5,000 official condoms distributed to athletes during the Beijing Olympics are finding their way to the auction block November 29 for…ahem…hard core collectors. The bidding price for the condoms, in special packages printed with “faster, higher, stronger,” (the Olympic motto), will start at 1RMB. Officials believe that most of the condoms were not in fact used, but taken home by participants as souvenirs - let’s hope these are the ones up for bid. more ›

We've worked at art auction houses before, and we've come to understand that the Chinese Art world has pretty much entirely passed over the years under Mao. Besides, when we think of the soviet realist artwork that was produced during that time, we struggle to see anything beyond the cheap souvenirs sold on Dongtai Lu. Interestingly, Bloomsbury Auctions is holding the first ever revolutionary Chinese art auction, with memorabilia (Maomorabilia?) that ranges from porcelain works to little red books. The 170 lots are expected to fetch around £130,000: we wonder what Mao would think of that? photo by Transpacifica more ›

With Halloween days away, we know it's hard to think about anything besides the awesome costumes and parties that lay ahead. So here are some suggestions to make the days go by faster this week, including jazz nights, handball, and of course, the Scrabblelicious Shanghaiist Happy Hour! more ›

• Boy Killed Anally When Office Chair Explodes [Gizmodo] "Well, stories don't get much worse than this. A 14-year-old boy in China was killed when his chair exploded, sending chunks of metal into his rectum. The bleeding this caused killed him."
• Is anything made in the U.S.A. anymore? You'd be surprised [International Herald Tribune] "The United States remains by far the world's leading manufacturer by value of goods produced. It hit a record $1.6 trillion in 2007 - nearly double the $811 billion of 1987. For every $1 of value produced in China factories, the United States generates $2.50. So what is made in the U.S.A. these days?"
• More than 20 dead in N China coal mine accident [Xinhua] "The accident occurred at about 2: 00 a.m. Sunday at the Tunlan Coal Mine of Shanxi Coking Coal Group in Gujiao City near Taiyuan, the provincial capital, when 436 miners were working underground."

Shanghai Internet entrepreneur David Li, 32, had people talking at the annual Napa Valley wine auction on Thursday when he bid $500,000 for six magnum bottles of 1992 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon. Apart from an $840,000 multi-bidder lot, Li's was the highest winning bid that night. While Reuters sees Li's bid as further proof of China's fast-growing wine market, Shanghaiist wonders who this guy is. Li told Reuters he had recently sold his Internet company for $3.5 billion last year, making him a certifiable multi-billionaire. But after searching high and low, Shanghaiist can't find one Google hit on him prior to his bid. He is nowhere to be found on the Hurun IT Rich List and the only Chinese news article we found on this Napa auction looks like it was translated from English and only has him down as Mr Li. Just who is this mystery man? It strikes us as odd that a 32 year old Internet billionaire would be so un-Google-able. Any leads are welcome. A very tiny, blurry picture of him is available here. more ›