On the Chinese Internet there are always a few people who are negative about M1NT. I guess that’s normal for a successful private club, people tend to get jealous if they cannot be part of it and the Internet is a good way to show that. Some go a bit too far though, such as a Shanghai expat named Simon Tung. This 31-year old tried to spread false rumors on Twitter (@simontung) this week about M1NT being a scam and about some of the founders being arrested. He claimed to have ‘multiple sources’ telling him this and in a later tweet also mentioned ‘industry insiders’. At exactly the same time someone also tried to put a similar comment on a blog post of mine (anonymous of course, but because of the timing I would not be surprised if Simon was behind this). Why does he do this? Does he want to have his 5 minutes of ‘fame’? Or was he just rejected for a M1NT party? I don’t know, but if anybody can get me in touch with him I’d like to ask him myself.
But even though some people may not like M1NT Shanghai, a lot more do love it: The club was just voted Club of the Year in this year’s City Weekend’s Readers Choice Awards! I actually voted for M1NT as well, and even won a Spa session with that (Thanks City Weekend, I didn’t even know there were prices when I filled out the questionnaire). M1NT not only won Club of the Year, but in total they managed to get 5 of this year’s Awards. Next to Club of the Year, M1NT was also voted Best New Club, and it has the Best Bartender, Best Nightlife Bathroom and Best Cocktails. Congrats to the team at M1NT!
Update (May 9, 2009): Simon Tung contacted me after reading this blog post and sent me links that did not prove his allegations about M1NT being a scam. Regrettabley he was also not willing to name his sources as they are his friends. I also talked to the management of M1NT, and it appears that one of M1NT’s founding shareholders in the club in London and HK was arrested. However, this has nothing to do with M1NT and the person has no operational involvement in M1NT. M1NT has hundreds of shareholders and then there is always the risk that one of them could get into trouble. I will not allow any further comments bashing M1NT or its management on this blog. M1NT is doing very well and with success comes envy. C’est la vie.
Note: Normally I allow (almost) all comments as long as they are not spam, but comment moderation will be in place for this post. I am not looking to start a pro & contra war about M1NT here, I have had that discussion already too often both here and on other blogs.
hope not true. i understand a beijing site has been selected and his about to start renovation, so i am considering joining
Marc, do you really think it's jealousy driving this? What about the simple fact that people find pretentiousness annoying? (and please, don't tell me about the award, Cityweekend is as hype-driven as they come).
There's a reason why you're debating on M1NT that often, and if you chalk it all up to jealousy, then you're clearly in denial. M1NT is a _celebration_ of pretentiousness (down to the big prominent lighted sign outside). Usually that doesn't go very well with a lot of people, whether you have the money for it or not.
I don't think that M1NT is that hard to be a part of honestly… Looks to me like they are not turning anybody away like they say the would.
@anonymous 1: I am sure there will always be people who will call M1NT pretentious (just like that's the case with other high-end places), luckily most think it's a great place to hang out – hence the award (based on actual user voting), whether hype driven or not.
@anonymous 2: Correct, if you sign up you can normally always go in, but it allows the club to keep out people you do not want in there (prostitutes for example). You also miss out on some of the other benefits of membership (see some other posts of mine about this for details, or go to M1NT site).
bathroom is way too dark!!!
and the drinks were nothing special, have had much better drinks around town.
but i agree, great club, great atmosphere. packed this friday.
I go to M1NT on average once every couple of weeks. I am not a member and have never signed up to anything. My friends are the same. People go to M1NT because it is free to get in and you can buy cheap beer.
The people that you get going there, at least when I have been, are no different than what you would find in any ex-pat club. As for hookers and dealers, again there is zero difference from any place else. They are all there.
I enjoy M1NT and will keep going but they aren't fooling anyone about it being exclusive.