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 focuses on quirky events for good causes. Our 2022 partner is Library Project, which has furnished thousands of reading rooms in rural schools. Learn more about Maovember here. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.