500 Mao Club | Pins sales top 100 at Maovember launch

Maovember 2016 got off to a strong start with more than 100 pin sales at the October 14 launch party at XL Restaurant & Bar. Venue reps from Irish Volunteer, Cafe de la Poste, Punjabi, Beer Mania, Home Plate Barbecue, Paddy O’Shea’s and CHEERS all picked up pin packages there were plenty of individuals helping, too, including ten-pin buyers Ailish and Petar. Pins cost rmb50 with all proceeds to Good Works and Library Project. Here’s a collage of some of the 2016 buyers, with more to come, including at our upcoming events.

Pin party! | Maovember launch set for October 14 at XL

Ladies and gentlemen, get your (real or fake) mustaches ready: this year’s Maovember opening party is set for Friday, October 14, at restaurant and bar XL in Beijing.

Drop by for the launch of the 2016 pin, designed by Maovember original Julian Tavalin and prices, as always, at rmb50. You can also grab a special shot created by XL manager Jane Cui or a pickleback for rmb30, and play darts and drinks with Jack Zhou of Groovy Schiller’s and Paul Rochon of Paddy O’Shea’s for rmb30, with prizes ranging from a bottle of Jamesons to XL drinks. All proceeds from pins, shots and games go to charity. This year’s partners are The Library Project and Good Works.

Bars, restaurants and shops that want to help this year’s campaign by selling pins can pick up a package of ten for rmb500. Not only will that help these worthy causes but it also gets the venue listed in The Beijinger magazine and on maovember.com and thebeijinger.com. (We’re starting at 2 PM so people from the trade who have to work at night but want to help this year’s campaign can stop by and pick up their pin packages. We plan a group photo at around 4 PM.)

The Maovember launch starts at 2 PM and goes until late. XL is just off Xindong Road, behind the building that is across from the Bentley dealership and just north of Heaven Supermarket. See you there!

Maovember 2016: How We Plan to Mao Down

Maovember is a month-long charity campaign that teams restaurants, bars, shops and customers in China for good causes. The name is a play on mao, a coin worth one tenth of a yuan (1.5 cents), and Movember, a global health campaign that sees men grow mustaches. The theme is small businesses and small donations can yield big results.

Maovember backs projects that produce visible results. Past campaigns have funded a migrant children’s school library on Beijing’s outskirts via The Library Project. (2013) and cataract surgery for over 200 elderly men in rural China via Orbis (2014 and 2015). Funds are raised via Maovember pin sales, personal donations, and events such quizzes, wine tastings and poker, beer pong and corn toss tournaments.

Some key features of Maovember 2016:

The 2016 campaign is October 14 to November 19. The last half of November has been tough due to school fairs, impending holidays and colder weather, so the focus shifted to earlier dates.
The 2016 charities are Library Project, the 2013 partner, and Good Works, which trains developmentally challenged late-teen orphans for jobs in the coffee trade. Details on the specific schools and trainees that Maovember helps will be posted..

More events are expected beyond Beijing this year, with Tianjin and Shanghai already on the slate.

Event partners will continue to be encouraged to raise funds in two ways. First, with a food / drink special that clearly shows how much money per purchase goes to charity. Second, with a fun activity, such as a tasting, quiz or sports tournament, with the entry fee to charity. This formula has inspired much creativity.

The 2016 steering group includes venue reps Paul Rochon (Paddy O’Shea’s), Zach Lewison (Irish Volunteer), donor reps Steven Schwankert (Beijinger and SIno Scuba), Alex Jennings (education) and Edouard Simon (IT) and Jim Boyce (website and central planning). Everyone involved is a volunteer.

If you need more info, or are interested in holding an event or selling pins, please contact us via nihao (at) maovember.com.

Five flashbacks | Memorable Maovember 2015 moments

By Jim Boyce | Maovember is many things to many people. For me, it’s a long roller coaster ride that includes the lows of rushing to publicize events, worrying about turnout and covering for people at the last minute and the highs of backing a worthy cause, seeing guests have fun, and teaming with creative and committed partners. The highs thankfully easily dominate the lows.

Below I’ve listed five personal moments from last year that make me believe in this project. There are lots more I could cite, from pub quizzes to pool, beer pong, poker and corn toss tournaments to wine and beer events, so expect more “top fives” soon. And I’m sure other people can list their favorite memories, too!

Finally, those who organize Maovember are lucky to have so many people in the food and drink industry willing to do events and so many consumers willing to support those efforts with donations.

CAFE DE LA POSTE

Chinese and French wines tasted blind to raise money for cataract surgeries and thus give people sight. Nice event, Tristan and Justin! It was fun to see people guess what wine hailed from what nation. Bonus points for the mustache-themed backgrounds and the basket-bola game. (Recap here.)

MIGAS

This is among my favorite Beijing restaurants, so brunch alone made this a worthwhile event. The pouron contest, emceed by chef Aitor, took it to the next level as people performed a series of distance-guzzling challenges with the goal of winning… more wine! Nice touches by Juan and Maria with mustache-shaped cookies at the dessert station and fun promotions. (Recap here.)

The “mystery wine party” at La Cava saw a bunch of my favorite distributors sponsor superb bottles that sold for a mere rmb100 each. The catch? Each bottle was gift-wrapped and the label only revealed when bought. The result? People trying and sharing wines and, when finished, buying more. We sold out in an hour. We also held the first “wine flights” paper airplane contest. (Recap here.)

Although a bitterly cold night and hutong location curbed turnout, the Tiki guys deserve full marks for getting into the spirit with a party themed around the classic TV show Magnum P.I. They had everything from a limbo contest to a “get someone lei’d promotion” to 10-kuai rum shots. Bonus points to Maovember supporter Alex for embracing the theme and dressing up as both Zeus and Apollo, the two Dobermans from the show. (Full recap here.)

PADDY O’SHEA’S

Someone who embodies the Maovember spirit is manager Paul of Paddy O’Shea’s, who hosted the official closing party last year. Given pollution as nasty as it gets and a weekday slot, we worried about attendance. The mix of road hockey, an open mic night, Two Guys pies, a Jameson pickleback bar and a community that came through in our ~~darkest~~ smoggiest hour made the event a big success. (Full recap here.)

Look for more 2015 flashbacks ahead of this year’s Maovember project!

Coverage | Maovember featured in Orbis publication

Maovember 2015 funded cataract surgery for 100 elderly men in rural areas via Orbis, known for its “flying hospital”. Orbis wrote about last year’s campaign in its in-house publication, noting the many venues involved. Check out the story below:

Recap | Two Guys pies, Jameson picklebacks, road hockey highlight closing party at Paddy O’Shea’s

The year’s worst stretch of air pollution and a Tuesday night date meant turnout expectations were low for the official Maovember closing party at Paddy O’Shea’s earlier this month. Those expectations were defied as a full house of partiers showed up for a night that included live bands, pies from Two Guys and picklebacks courtesy of a custom-built Jameson bar inside and road hockey with local team The Oilers outside. With the money from the picklebacks and pies and the three-shots-for-rmb50 hockey contest, some rmb4,450 was raised for Maovember.

Recap | Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament at Tim’s

Tim’s Texas Bar-B-Q held this year’s final Maovember event — let’s call it a ‘hair of the stache’ affair — by hosting a six-hour Texas hold ’em charity tournament. Players each paid rmb500 for a free-flow of drinks, appetizers and barbecue plus the chance to see who best knows how to hold ’em and fold ’em. Halfway through, the top players at each table gathered to decide the winner. Meanwhile, many observers paying rmb500 just to spend an afternoon enjoying beer, mixed drinks, tacos, brisket and more. After the last hand was dealt, some rmb8700 was raised for Maovember.

Recap | Second Annual Maovember Quiz at Q Mex

Q Mex Bar & Grill brought back it’s brain-teasers by holding a second annual Maovember charity quiz. Like last year, the quiz was bilingual and drew over a dozen teams, with even more money raised via a pool tournament and tequila shots. Due to the efforts of co-owners Stefan Schober and Lucy Li, some rmb1696 was raised for Maovember!

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