I be honest with you, I wouldn't know what that is either since never tried one but wouldn't confused it as a mushroom.
pogger your words 
quote:
" I'm rather fond of their innocence."
I agree 100% with you on this one

They would recognize it if it had 10 inches of hair growing from it......

I gave my opinion in my office by rolling on the floor in fits. The chinese guys already knew about it, and they were cracking up while listening to it again.

Fondness of innocence aside, the reason its a story is because of the wording used by the reporter. Referring to it as something like meat, It having two mushroom heads, and what they thought it was was something some emperor a long time ago used for longevity...

Any young guy who has regular access to net .. will recognize in an instant... even if not used by himself.. some ads must have popped up while surfing porn or underground websites for cracks/software/download etc.. even taobao got adult section..  understand from chinese collegues that there are even specialised websites which are very famous..  taohv.com.cn  ...

I am still wondering how it went 80m down??  someone might have purposefully thrown it into the well the night before expecting this fun... ?

.I think some guy must have chucked it down the well after it asked him for an iPhone

That was a great laugh.  Thank you.  I especially liked the part where the female reporter said that it looked like an ancient herb that the emperor used for longevity.  

In all honesty, if I saw it I might not have known what it was, but one touch and I would have known it was a man made material.