Maovember Raises Over RMB 18,000 for The Library Project

Steven Schwankert | Dec 2, 2013 3:00 pm | Add a comment | 1069 reads

As of Sunday night, the idea born of inebriation known as Maovember handed just over RMB 18,000 to The Library Project for the Zhen Hua Migrant School in Changping County, with a bit more money still to come in, said Maovember co-founder and the Beijinger contributor Jim Boyce.

"Maovember started as an idea to make RMB 1,000-2,000 with one shop and ended up involving a dozen venues in Sanlitun, Lido, Shuangjing and Gulou. We had no major organizational meetings, people came from nowhere to offer help and a good deal of event planning was done on the fly, so the mission, like our mustaches, was a bit unruly at times. But in the end we will be able to furnish a library for the school," Boyce said via email.

Inspired by the annual Movember mustache-growing event, the mao in Maovember comes from the one mao notes and coins most people see as useless. The idea is that anyone can get involved and that small change, even a one-mao bill, can be used for big change.

Key events included the charity corn toss tournament at Irish Volunteer and Hockey Bar, the mustache bash at The Brick, and the MoDown at Two Guys and a Pie, Cheers and Tavalin Bagels. "Personally, the mulled wine at Cheers and The Beijing Beatles at Two Guys and a Pie last night put a nice finish on a very cold event," Boyce said.