The Singles' Day () or Double 11 (), originally called Bachelors' Day, is a Chinese unofficial holiday and shopping season that celebrates people who are not in a relationship. The date, 11 November (11/11), was chosen because the numeral 1 resembles a bare stick (), which is Chinese Internet slang for an unmarried man who does not add 'branches' to the

family tree A family tree, also called a genealogy or a pedigree chart, is a chart representing family relationships in a conventional tree structure. More detailed family trees, used in medicine and social work, are known as genograms. Representations ...

. The four '1's also abstractly refer to the demographic group of single people. Ironically, the holiday has become a popular date on which to celebrate relationships: more than 4,000 couples got married in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

on this date in 2011, far greater than the daily average of 700 marriages. Originally, the date was celebrated as a cynical response to traditional couple-centric festivals by a small group of college bachelors. However, in 2009 Alibaba's CEO

Daniel Zhang Daniel Zhang Yong () is a Chinese technology executive. He is currently the CEO of Alibaba Group. Before becoming the CEO, Zhang was best known for his roles as CEO of Taobao and president of Tmall (owned by Alibaba). While running Tmall, Zhang ...

began to use the day as a 24-hour shopping holiday festival that offered online shopping discounts and offline entertainment. The holiday has now become the largest physical retail and

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" ...

shopping day in the world. Rivals of Alibaba, such as JD.com hosts Singles' Day festival as well, which garnered US$19.1 billion, bringing the Chinese total to US$44.5 billion total sales volume in 2017. Alibaba shoppers exceeded 213.5 billion yuan ( US$30.7 billion) in total spend during 2018 Singles Day. In 2019, Alibaba said that its gross merchandise volume for the whole event came in at 268.4 billion yuan (US$38.4 billion), an increase of 26% from the previous year. In 2021, Alibaba and JD reached a new combined Singles Day sales record of US$139 billion. In 2022, both Alibaba and JD.com for the first time did not disclose the Singles' Day sales results as

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

continues to face macroeconomic headwinds and zero-

Covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

challenges. However, Alibaba said its results were "in line with 021'sGMV performance," while JD.com said it set a record-breaking Singles' Day event.

Origins

The Singles' Day, or Bachelors' Day, originated at

Nanjing University Nanjing University (NJU; ) is a national public research university in Nanjing, Jiangsu. It is a member of C9 League and a Class A Double First Class University designated by the Chinese central government. NJU has two main campuses: the Xian ...

in 1993. Singles' Day celebrations spread to several other universities in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and t ...

during the 1990s. 11 November (11/11), consisting of four 1's, was chosen as it represents four singles. There are several ideas explaining the creation of the Singles' Day festival. The most widely accepted idea is that the holiday grew out of Nanjing University's dorm culture. One origin story is that in 1993, four male students of Nanjing University's Mingcaowuzhu (all single men) dorm discussed how they could break away from the monotony of being single and agreed that 11 November would be a day of events and celebrations in honor of being single. These activities spread through the university and eventually made their way into wider society. The spread increased with social media use, and the event has become increasingly popular within contemporary Chinese culture and society.

Description

Singles' Day serves as an occasion for single people to meet and for parties to be organized. The holiday was initially only celebrated by young men, hence the initial name Bachelors' Day. However, it is now widely celebrated by both sexes. Blind date parties are popular on this day, in an attempt to alter the single status of the participants. Some universities organize special programs to gather singles together for the celebration. Singles may take on an annoyed or self-deprecating attitude in response to remaining single as a university student, but university initiatives have helped curb that negativity. Although this date is meant to celebrate singlehood, the desire to find a spouse or partner is often expressed by young Chinese people on this date, while other love-related issues are discussed by the Chinese media.

Shopping

The event is not an officially recognized public holiday in China, although it has become the largest

offline In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" o ...

and

shopping day in the world. Sales in Alibaba's e-commerce websites, Tmall and

Taobao Taobao () is a Chinese online shopping platform. It is headquartered in Hangzhou and is owned by Alibaba. According to Alexa rank, it is the eighth most-visited website globally in 2021. Taobao.com was registered on April 21, 2003 by Alibaba ...

, have reached US$5.8 billion in 2013, US$9.3 billion in 2014, US$14.3 billion in 2015, US$17.8 billion in 2016, and over US$25.4 billion in 2017. JD.com also achieved a sales record of US$19.1 billion in 2017, while Lazada drums up US$123 million. As more people join in the celebration of this holiday, many companies have taken the opportunity to target younger consumers including businesses such as

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music is ...

parlors, and online shopping malls. For example, the Chinese online shopping mall

sold goods worth 19 billion CNY (about US$3 billion) on 11 November 2012. On Singles' Day 2017, Alibaba set a world record for most payment transactions during the festival. Its mobile wallet app Alipay processed 256,000 payment transactions per second. A total of 1.48 billion transactions were processed by Alipay in the entire 24 hours, with delivery orders through Cainiao (Alibaba's logistics affiliate) reaching close to 700 million, breaking the previous record set in 2016. The event is now nearly four times the size of America's biggest shopping days, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Cultural Events

Singles' day have come to also represent as a cultural event. Alibaba usually hosts large celebratory festivals on the night before its biggest shopping day and have featured global celebrities including Nicole Kidman in 2017,

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bo ...

at Alibaba's Shanghai gala in 2019, and

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her campy style, she has been referred to ...

performing in a livestream in 2020. Not merely a shopping event but the holiday is also a day when people can party to socialize and meet other people, as well as practising traditions that celebrate the single life. 2011 marked the Singles Day of the Century (Chinese pinyin: ''Shiji Guanggun Jie'') as this date had six "ones" rather than four, increasing the significance of the occasion. In 2011, an above-average number of marital celebrations occurred in Hong Kong and Beijing on 11 November.

Symbolism

The following symbolism has been associated with the special date: * 1: the digit 1 symbolizes an individual, a single person. * 11: two individuals finding each other and being together on one side of the special date (11.11). * 2 x (11): a celebration of two or more couples, each comprising two single individuals finding each other on the special date (11.11).

Outside China

Singles' Day has since been popularized through the internet and is now observed at several places outside of China as well. The holiday has particularly grown in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

, with customers in the Lazada's Southeast Asian marketplaces ordering 6.5 million items in 2017. In

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

, for example, 11 November is dubbed "Harbolnas" (National Online Shopping Day), and large discounts are offered by major online retailers. It previously took place on 12 December. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, Single's Day, also called National Singles Day, is celebrated on 11 March. It was initiated by a group of internationally recognised dating experts in order to help singles either embrace their single status or 'do something about it'.

MediaMarkt Media Markt is a German multinational chain of stores selling consumer electronics with over 1000 stores in Europe. With chain of stores Saturn it constitutes Media-Saturn Holding, owned by the retail company Ceconomy, which was demerged from ...

, a German company, promotes Singles' Day in their stores. Belgian MediaMarkt also participates, but reactions have been negative, as 11 November is the anniversary of the

Armistice of 11 November 1918 The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...

that ended

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and the day is associated with somber commemoration of the war dead in Belgium. In 2016, Swedish electronics retailer Elgiganten promoted a Singles Day campaign in Norway before implementing it in the other

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sw ...

the following year.

Trademarks

The term "双十一" (Double 11) was trademarked in China by Alibaba Group on 28 December 2012, under registration numbers 10136470 and 10136420. In October 2014, Alibaba threatened legal action against media outlets that accept advertising from competitors that use this term.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Creative Singles Day
Marriage in Chinese culture November observances Public holidays in China Unofficial observances 1990s neologisms Autumn events in China