I've found out from international news on the radio that today (11/11/14) is known as Single's Day in China. It is considered to be the Anti-Valentine's Day! Just imagine something like that... Celebrating your single-hood or as some would call it, your freedom. The origins of this day can be traced back to the early 1990's in China. Singles' Day which is otherwise known as Bachelors' Day got its name because the date of this day contains four 'ones' (the 11th day of the 11th month 11/11). This day was started by students of the Nanjing University located in the eastern part of China near Shanghai in 1993. The tradition has since spread and is now widely celebrated all over China and in a few other countries. Singles' Day had an even more special significance in 2011 and was considered to be the 'Singles' Day of the Century' because it was only on that day that the actual date consisted of six 'ones' (the 11th day of the 11th month of 2011... 11/11/11).
Map of China (Image taken from lonelyplanet.com)
On this day, singles usually go out and celebrate in restaurants as well as go shopping for themselves especially online. This is in fact a new phenomenon where online shopping in China on this day has said to have surpassed that of the Black Friday sale in the United States in 2013 earning up to 8.2 billion dollars in sales. Alibaba, a business mogul who owns the Alibaba Group of companies which is the largest e-commerce company in China has profited from a large percentage of these sales. His company has also been one of the companies heavily promoting this day. According to one site, Singles' Day is on its way to becoming the most profitable manufactured holiday in history. 
1 comment:
Hmmm....how much to get to China now? One plus billion singles in China....even I can't lose!
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