After a lot of back-and-forth and confusion, it looks like blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng will be allowed to leave China—if you believe the Chinese government, that is. Earlier today, the State Department said, "The Chinese Government stated today that Mr. Chen Guangcheng has the same right to travel abroad as any other citizen of China. Mr. Chen has been offered a fellowship from an American university, where he can be accompanied by his wife and two children." more ›

Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, who escaped from house arrest in a village last week and was given refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for six days, is now worried about his family's future. He has told reporters that American diplomatic officials have essentially abandoned him and is now desperate, "My fervent hope is that it would be possible for me and my family to leave for the U.S. on Hillary Clinton’s plane." more ›

Pull yourself out of the balmy weather tomorrow and watch a river race between the 12 animals of the Zodiac, using actual animals, live from Zhujiajiao, China. Artist Duke Riley, who in 2009 turned the Queens Museum of Art into a real-life Roman battle, is staging the event as a Rematch for the animals who were cheated in the original race thousands of years ago by the rat. “No calendars will be reset at the finish line nor will any closer understanding of that mythical day be realized," Riley says in a release. "The only realization will be a brief moment of divine absurdity between two shores.” more ›

Mike Daisey—the performer and monologuist whose Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs put tremendous pressure on Apple to clean up its manufacturing act in China only to be revealed as a sham when This American Life retracted its segment based on it—is not leaving the stage just yet. Yesterday he took to his blog to take another stab at apologizing and explaining himself. In the post he says he "failed to honor the contract I’d established with my audiences over many years and many shows." more ›

Yesterday, beloved public radio institution This American Life said it was retracting its popular segment about the horrid working conditions at Apple factories in China producing various iProduct. The program was centered around the work of monologuist Mike Daisey, whose latest piece, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, "illuminates how the CEO of Apple and his obsessions shape our lives, while sharing stories of his own travels to China to investigate the factories where millions toil to make iPhones and iPods." But TAL executive producer and host Ira Glass explained that Daisey lied to him and the TAL staff, about small and big things (like meeting a 13-year-old worker, showing a worker a completed iPad for the first time). Still, in the edition of This American Life that aired yesterday, Glass ended the program by discussing the labor issues at the factories with NY Times reporter Charles Duhigg, who says, "What has happened today is that rather than exporting that standard of life, which is within our capacity to do, we have exported harsh working conditions to another nation." more ›

Hoards of hungry gadget-heads are currently turning on their new iPads to find out that This American Life has decided to retract their recent segment on the harsh working conditions at Chinese factories making the company's toys [PDF]. The problem is that the segment, which included large segments from Mike Daisey's one-man show The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, "contained numerous fabrications." In other words: Yet more good news for Apple, whose stock is currently trading over $580 a share. more ›

Following the Times' damning investigative series on the human costs of its cheap electronics and Mike Daisey's scathing one-man show, Apple has announced that they have asked the independent group to conduct audits of Apple's assembly suppliers in China. “We believe that workers everywhere have the right to a safe and fair work environment, which is why we’ve asked the FLA to independently assess the performance of our largest suppliers,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. more ›

Since we changed the name of the site to Linthamist, we're doing our best to brush up on Taiwanese culture and began to wonder what Taiwanese and Chinese food had in common, and what made Taiwanese cuisine unique. With the help of a staffer's parents who grew up in Taiwan, here's a cursory guide. more ›

Monologist Mike Daisey has drawn attention to the horrendous labor practices in China that are exploited by Apple and other electronics corporations since he first performed his one-man show, The Agony and the Ecstacy of Steve Jobs, in 2010. Recently, the New York Times has released a series of reports detailing the brutal nature of the Chinese "iEconomy," much of which overlapped with Daisey's show. A Romanesko reader wonders what Daisey thinks of the pieces, and he responded. "I’m absolutely thrilled that the NYT is doing this reporting. It’s what I’ve been hoping for—that journalists would dig in and pull this story out by its roots." more ›

In the wake of some optimistic NY lawmakers' proposed bill to ban food on subways, we thought we'd share the video that's been sparking tensions between Hong Kong residents and mainland Chinese visitors. While it's not as knockdown and drag-out as the infamous NYC subway spaghetti fight, it does get pretty tense—because Hong Kong's subway system, the MTR, prohibits food on its rather immaculate trains—and one Hong Kong rider gets upset at a Chinese girl who spilled some dry noodles on the train floor. The girl's mother says, it's not a big deal... and then all hell breaks loose. more ›

While you're just thinking about where to get Chinese food for the Lunar New Year (Chinatown? Flushing? Sunset Park?), in China, they are taking the upcoming Year of the Dragon very seriously. So seriously that Chinese big spenders have bought all the special edition "Dragon" Rolls-Royce Phantoms which sell for $1.2 million each. more ›

That stuff your squeezed into your Earl Grey or dunked your McNugget in or bought with that French maid costume for "personal reasons" may not actually be honey. FDA regulations require any product labeled "honey" to contain pollen—the naturally occurring ingredient that gives honey nutritional benefits. But a recent study conducted by Food Safety News shows that 76% of honey on the shelves contains no pollen. Why would producers remove all the pollen? Honey laundering. more ›

After Standard & Poor's downgraded the United States' credit rating from AAA to AA+, the single largest foreign holder of American debt spoke up. Yes, that would be China (it has, oh, about $1.1 trillion in U.S. debt) —and China was not happy! The country's official news agency Xinhua issued a statement:

China, the largest creditor of the world’s sole superpower, has every right now to demand the United States to address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China’s dollar assets... more ›

If there was any doubt that Apple's neurotic proclivity for secrecy is absolute, the company is suing tiny stores in Queens' Chinatown for trademark infringement. Reuters reports that Apple Story Inc, and Fun Zone "along with an undisclosed number of unnamed businesses and 50 'John Does'" were charged in the complaint. In typical Apple fashion, "documents in the case have been sealed," and the judge in the case allowed pertinent evidence to be seized from the stores that mainly sell iPad and iPhone accessories. No word on whether Apple will change their logo to a clenched, black-gloved fist. more ›

If Connecticut is the land of steady habits, and California is the land of milk and honey, then New York is certainly the land of the (big) apple: apples are our state fruit, apple muffins are our state muffin, and everyone here is really rooting for Fiona Apple to make another record. But according to Crain's, there's an apple conspiracy afoot, and it involves one of Glenn Beck's arch-enemies: China! more ›

Last week, artist Geandy Pavon projected an image of imprisoned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's face onto the side of the Chinese Consulate building on 12th Avenue. According to Hyperallergic, "The piece is part of Pavon’s Nemesis project," which originally paid tribute to Cuban prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo; Pavon said, "The concept of the project is to impose the face of the victim on buildings walls that house government offices … The light on the wall is a symbol of revelation.'" more ›

Over the weekend, artist Ai Weiwei, who has been outspoken about Chinese policies, was arrested by Chinese authorities in Beijing. France and Germany have called for his release, as, the Wall Street Journal reports, "his supporters [worry] that he could be charged with subversion or held indefinitely in extra-judicial custody as dozens of other activists have been over a six-week crackdown on dissent." This comes as Ai has a big public art project, Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, scheduled for NYC next month. Still, his NYC organizer tells City Room, "We’re moving ahead in the same way that we started." more ›

Donald Trump keeps talking about his presidential platform—if he actually does run in 2012—and last night, while appearing on CNN, he weaved his current distaste of China and the Chinese at length. Trump proposed a 25% tax on all Chinese products (sorry Wal-Mart shoppers!) and said he wouldn't give the Chinese leader a five-star meal at the White House, "If we don’t work out a deal [at my office], we send him to McDonald’s and send him home." Guess the Chinese are only helpful as investors when Trump has financial problems. more ›

A woman who has claimed China has persecuted her because she removed a government-required intrauterine device is continuing her fight for asylum in the United State. While an immigration judge and immigration appeals panel believed she and her 9-year-old son should be deported, the Daily News reports, "The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered the lower courts to take another look and explain why China's policy of forcing women to get the devices doesn't amount to persecution." more ›