Help a Laowai Win In China

Should any Beijing Laowai have a free schedule tomorrow and wish to support a fellow foreigner in his bid to show a national TV audience that he’s got some guanxi too, while also helping raise awareness for a charity that secures micro loans for poor rural women, please read the following from American expat, Henry Winter:

I am competing in a national TV reality show called “Win In China” [site in Chinese] – it’s a lot like The Apprentice. We started with 150,000 candidates, and now only 11 are left. I am the first foreigner ever to be on the show, which the show producers frequently point out on air.

Tomorrow, Sunday, is the final challenge! We are split into two teams, and our task is to organize an event for Project Happiness, a great charity that gives small loans to poor rural women to help them start sustainable small businesses. The shopping mall, however, doesn’t have a lot of foot traffic. Our challenge is to get people to show up to the event, and to raise awareness of the charity through the event itself and through media.

All of my fellow contestants are furiously working their cellphones, to demonstrate to the judges that they have banfa/guanxi/ziyuan/nengli. Everyone is skeptical that the laowai can do anything…that ANY laowai can do anything. When I asked the charity if it were “ok” if I invited foreigners to visit the event, they said “Ok? That’s GREAT!!! We really want to raise awareness of Project Happiness with foreigners!”

So … help please! Please help me show the national TV audience that laowai can get things done in China, and that laowai care about charity!

The details:

Project Happiness: www.rrxf.org.cn (chinese website)
Event: Sunday, March 23, 11 am – 1 pm, THIRD FLOOR of ShiJi JinYuan Mall, West Third Ring Road (near Suzhou Bridge), Beijing.

Thanks in advance!! 🙂

Henry

So, if you can, get out and show Henry a little laowai love.