Hao Wan'r! A Recap of the Second Annual Mandarin Month Mixer

Hot (literally) on the heels of three days of rain, June 25 was graced by blue skies, and not even a sweltering sun could deter 200 attendees from joining us at our Second Annual Mandarin Month Mixer at the newly renovated Q Bar Rooftop. The attendees, who hailed from across the globe and with Chinese skills of all levels, were not coming for the free booze, food, or T-shirts (although those freebies did help), but to find a school to help push their proficiency to the next level. 

The greatest challenge for most foreigners before they settle on a school is finding the necessary course information in one place. Our Mixer, now in its second year, relieved the stresses of such inconveniences, bringing together some of Beijing’s best Mandarin learning centers and schools to help attendees kickstart their search for the best fit. Attendees also got the unique opportunity to chitchat with other foreigners of different language levels about the difficult but rewarding experience of learning putonghua. 

Over the last three weeks, we have been writing a flurry of blogs aimed at helping non-Chinese speakers of all levels gain useful phrases in specific topic areas. Even though our Mandarin Month is coming to a close, we won't stop providing tips and tricks via our weekly Mandarin Monday blogs.

Some more good news: for people who would still like to get their hands on one of our (very divisive) "laowai" T-shirts, fill out this registration form and we'll save one for you as well as send you a set of materials from all the exhibiting schools from over the weekend (while supplies last).

If you weren't able to make it out on Sunday, you can relive the event via the photos below:

Full list of schools that attended:
Hutong School
Global Mandarin
Live the Language (LtL) Mandarin School
The Bridge School
That's Mandarin
Dongyou (DY) Chinese Education
LightBeijing
Beijing Information Technology College (BITC)
Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies (IUP)
 

We would like to thank Sanfine International Hospital for sponsoring the event, Q Bar for hosting the event, Tube Station for providing delicious slices of pizza, and Konig Ludwig Weissbier for dolling out refreshing, ice-cold beers. See you next year come light rain or scorching sun and plenty more Mandarin fun!

Photos: Tyler Magnier