Maovember is all about fun new events and that was certainly the case on November 24 as restaurant O’Steak hosted a photograph auction and wine tasting aka MaovembArt.
The auction featured ten photos–eight from Beijing, two from Shanghai–taken by Francois Nadeau. All profits from the auction, which saw plenty of bidding, went to Maovember.
Guests also enjoyed flights of three glasses of wine—as Nadeau is a French-Canadian in China, we picked a French, a Canadian and a Chinese label—at rmb120, which also went to Maovember.
The wine trio included Mt. Boucherie Merlot from Canada (English / 中文介绍) as well as Pierre-Marie Chermette Beaujolais from France and Xi Estates Jade Dove Red Blend from China.
This night of art and wine, not mention tasty French food and plenty of conversation, ended up raising rmb13,240 or 132,400 mao.
Beijing International Ice Hockeyfilled the net for Maovember this year by raising over 200,000 mao, highlighted by a day-long party at The Irish Volunteer on November 20.
The party started with a corn toss tournament–Curt ‘n’ Clarky again took top spot–while attendees enjoyed beers and barbecue. Next up was flip cup, held on the patio out front, with some fast and furious action. And then it was time to get musical, as numerous BIIH members got up to sing, rap and play instruments during an open mic session that saw the entire room frequently singing along.
There was also a silent auction with an eclectic range of items–from art to Vitamix machines to hockey memorabilia to a guitar amp–and that raised a substantial amount of the money. The auction item donors included Steve Northcott, WPIC and Opposite House Hotel.
All in all, it was a fine day–and night–that captured the spirit of Maovember, namely, having fun and raising funds for a good cause. And with some further fundraising post-party, BIIH donated a whopping rmb22,038 / 220,380 mao to Maovember.
Mystery Wine Party returned this year and raised over 90,000 mao through bottle and raffle ticket sales at CHEERS Sanyuanqiao on November 13.
Mystery Wine featured over 50 wines, from a dozen countries, wrapped to cover the labels. Guests paid rmb125 to choose a bottle, unwrap it and discover the “mystery.” They could only buy a second bottle when the first was done, which encouraged people to share with friends, trade pours with strangers and, in turn, discover even more wines.
This year’s party also featured a bean bag toss game–successful throws earned tickets in a draw for thousands of renminbi worth of prizes.
The party raised rmb7250 in bottle sales, rmb1225 in raffle ticket sales and rmb751 in donations, for a grand total of rmb9226 or 92,260 mao for charity.
And in addition to hosting, CHEERS also donated wines as did the following sponsors:
The Wine Republic
La Cava de Laoma
L’Abreuvoir
KWV
Iroquois Marketing
Check out the photos below to see the featured wines. Mystery Wine Party was previously held in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Two dozen of Beijing’s finest furry friends took to the city’s streets on Sunday for the fifth annual Maovember Dog Pub Crawl.
This year’s tour started at Peach by Hulu Sanlitun, where humans enjoyed mulled wine and received their dog snack packs courtesy of Penny’s Food Studio. The Peach team gave the best Halloween costume award to top dog Buksie, dressed as Chucky, who won a Peach ‘Boo Box’ filled with Halloween-themed treats.
Buksie (above) received that prize at the second stop, Great Leap #12, with everyone enjoying the gorgeous fall foliage during the walk there, then enjoying Summer Harmony APA and a raffle for Great Leap shirts, six-packs and free beer vouchers.
And then it was up the street to Jing-A Brewpub, a Dog Pub Crawl veteran, for a choice of one of the brewery’s four core bottled beers, plus prizes such as toques and T-shirts.
The final stop was Pi Bar, with drink options of draft beer and Nasch Katszhen, and a final raffle. That included a bunch of vouchers from Peach and Hulu, and some wines from CHEERS and Grape Wall of China. Some of the dogs missed it, as they were already snoozing after that long fun day (see below)!
This year’s Dog Pub Crawl raised rmb5388 / or 53,800 mao: rmb4950 in entry fees (33 people x rmb150), rmb250 in donations, rmb100 in raffle tickets and rmb88 from one dog attending ‘virtually’–Kuro-Chan!
Thanks to Peach by Hulu, Great Leap, Jing-A and Pi Bar for hosting this year’s tour and to everyone who participated. And to Penny’s for donating snacks Dog Pub Crawl in, Dog Pub Crawl out. You can also check out the Dog Pub Crawl writeups from 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017.
Maovember 2021 officially kicked off in Tianjin as WE Brewery hosted its annual corn toss tournament on Saturday. This year’s tournament saw every team play each other in a round robin, with the top four going to the playoffs.
The final was a tight affair as Team Trey tossed its way to a 21-19 victory over BTAC, which had been undefeated to that point. The tournament raised rmb4500 in entry fees, with Team Trey donating its rmb2222 prize to Maovember.
Teams French Touch and Aviation tied for the “best dressed” award and also donated their rmb2222 in total prize money.
Even more money was raised via a contest to see which team drank and ate their way to the biggest bar tab. Team Wellington took that crown, with its rmb1680 tab for WE IPA, Pilsener and Kolsch, not to mention burgers and chili nachos, going to Maovember.
This year’s event included a raffle, with prizes from Tianjin United Family Hospital, including health checkups and dental cleaning, as well as from ZSA Beauty Hall, Turka Gourmet House, Jooma, Fish & Potato, Pizza Bianca and Smoki & Co.
Add rmb1430 in raffle ticket sales, a corporate donation of rmb2222 and a private donation of rmb500, and the WE Brewery total for this year’s corn toss tournament reached a whopping rmb14,776 – 147,760 mao!
Thanks to everyone who made this year’s party possible. And to Steve Wang of WE Brewery for his relentless support of Maovember and to private donor Y.O. Ming for providing assistance.
The annual WE Brewery corn toss tournament has become one of the most anticipated Maovember events. And this year is shaping up to be even more a-maize-ing because a) it will be held Halloween (HalloWEen?) weekend and b) a secret donor already has the ball rolling er, bag tossing.
That donation of RMB 6,666–the number of the WEast!–is to be split three ways: 2,222 goes to the corn toss winners, 2,222 goes to the best-dressed team and 2,222 goes to Maovember.
That’s even more incentive to get a group of well-dressed corn-tossing friends together on October 30 to share some drinks and toss some corn.
As usual, every mao of the RMB500 entry fee per team goes to Maovember. Also as usual, the event will include a “tab war” — the table that buys the most booze will see its bill donated to Maovember. Plus, a raffle with some sweet prizes.
Kudos to Steve Wang of WE Brewery for hosting this excellent event each year. And for helping us kick off Maovember 2021!
If you’re interested in joining the tournament, as a player or spectator, or if you want more details about Maovember, give us a shout (add ‘beijingboyce’ on WeChat or email nihao (at) maovember.com).
Here are some photos from Tianjin parties past, including last year’s contest!
As Maovember 2021 nears, here is a quick recap on how last year’s 72,783.8 RMB / 727,938 mao in donations were spent by our partner, The Library Project. (See the posts following this one for details about the events that helped raise those funds.)
We requested our funds be spent near Tianjin, since WE Brewery and its corn toss tournament in that city is one of Maovember’s signature events, and in Shanxi province, as Grace Vineyard is based there and supported numerous events in 2020, including a wine lunch, wine dinner and grape-based beer launch.
Zhaidong School
In March, Maovember 2020 funds went to Zhaidong Primary School in Jishan County in southwestern Shanxi province. The school has 601 students and staff, covering K1 to Grade 6, from a community of 5,000 people within a 4-km radius. Many of the students are the children of parents who work in distant areas.
A Library Project field trip found a heavy focus on reading and a need to upgrade facilities. Maovember funded 1200 books plus tables, chairs, bookshelves, a globe, librarian training materials, delivery fees and more. The total cost was 38,828 RMB or 388,280 mao.
Lantian School
In late May, Maovember funds went to Lantian School in Yi County of Hebei province, the closest school to Tianjin we could find. This school has 1550 students and 59 teachers, and covers Grade 1 to Grade 6. Most of its books were bought 15 years ago and needed replacement, with Library Project reporting it only found 500 suitable ones during a field trip.
With space at a premium, Library Project suggested funding a dozen “little seed” reading corners through the school. Maovember funded 1360 books, plus shelves for each corner, teacher training, a post-donation report and more. The total was 33,969.2 rmb or 339,692 mao.
Sourcing Strategy
The Library Project takes many things into consideration when providing books and other materials, from school size to student age to specific psychological situations.
“As there is a large number of left-behind children in rural schools, we have increased the proportion of books on children’s psychological construction, child protection, and children’s psychological health,” reports The Library Project. “The proportion of the books is as follows: literature (48%), history and geography (8%), natural science (25%), art (10%), and children’s mental health and growth (9%).”
TLP also takes into consideration what proportion of books to include from STEAM – science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics.
Books are sourced via “qualified children’s book suppliers, publishers, and websites.” TLP also sources tables and chairs that are “safe, environmentally friendly, and suitable for transportation and assembly” and bookshelves appropriate for the height of children, using a bidding process for the final decision.
Thanks to everyone who supported Maovember 2020. We aren’t the biggest fundraiser but try to do a few good deeds each year while keeping to our core philosophy of fun events (usually involving a game and a food / drink special), of giving 100 percent of the funds we raise (we cover our own admin costs) and of using the money for visible results (like books!) Thanks also to The Library Project for putting those funds to work and for its high degree of transparency and honesty.
We will start posting updates about Maovember 2021 soon! Here are a few more photos from Lantian School in Hebei.
Yay, the final Maovember report is done. And despite starting late, having a much smaller organizing committee, and 2020 being 2020, this year’s campaign raised more than last year’s, a total of 72,793.8 rmb or 727,938 mao* in donations.
(Frankly, we weren’t trying to “beat” a number but this result is satisfying given the challenges we faced.)
As usual, 100 percent of revenues went to our partner, The Library Project, with admin costs covered by the organizers themselves. As usual, the focus was on fun, with everything from corn toss and flip cup tournaments to our annual Dog Pub Crawl.
There were are also some unique fundraising events, including the release of the first Marselan grape beer, a pair of Malaysian-themed wine and food extravaganzas, a hutong dinner with French cuisine and Chinese wine, and more.
I’ve included a summary of each event below so you can see our diverse agenda this year. (Please let me know if you spot any errors or omissions!)
I don’t want to start naming names, as I’ll inevitably forget someone, but suffice it to say Maovember is only possible thanks to hundreds of people who support this quirky project, from veterans like Steve Wang of WE Brewery, who organized yet another amazing corn toss tournament, to new supporters like Jasmine Kho of Kakikopi, who spearheaded two events, joined Dog Pub Crawl and printed our huge Maovember logos. Read more in the wrapups below.
We are lucky to have so many people step up to help a project so quirky and chaotic and creative, and support a philosophy that charity sometimes hits your budget a bit (but are lucky enough to be in a position to handle it), that transparency is crucial (it’s why we stick to giving 100 percent of donations and use the QR code as much as possible) and that, above all, fundraising should be fun.
We’ve requested that our funds be used for schools in Hebei and Shanxi–last year’s money went to Hubei–and will provide updates as they are put to use.
Note: Total includes 65,472.6 donated directly to the QR code, 4,766 donated to The Library Project’s general QR code (all event fees) and 2,545.2 donated from abroad via The Library Project’s overseas link. Our dedicated QR code is especially good as donors can see their money instantly go to The Library Project and return to the QR code page to see the growing donation total.
