Bachelors auctioned off for good cause

Mitch Moxley, 30, voluntered himself for the auction; Alison Johnson (right) was the event sponsor's co-founder. Photo by Janek Zdzarski from zdzarski.com

By Annie Wei

Last month, the speed-dating organization Fishbowl Events held its first-ever Bachelor Auction Party at Face Bar, where nine single expat men strutted their charisma, personality and talents to win the affections of the mostly female audience.

“I was quite nervous at first,” said Mitch Moxley, a 30-year-old journalist from Canada who volunteered for the auction. “But it turned into a lot of fun. We all remembered it was for charity, and I think the audience had a good time too.”

Moxley, like many of the other bachelors, got his friends to back him up. He was auctioned off for 850 yuan.

In the end, Fishbowl raised 11,200 yuan for Tse Reh Orphanage in Qinghai Province, an area where many children are orphaned due to extreme weather. Tse Reh Orphanage aims to educate these children in order to preserve their native Tibetan language and heritage.

Since the Qinghai earthquake in April, many children have relocated to Beijing, where the cost of housing and education is drastically higher.

Fishbowl Events was founded in 2007 by Allison Johnson, a 30-year-old American, and Ola Zdzarski, a 29-year-old Pole. Their events are selective but usually attract a mix of expats and local Chinese.