The big day is finally here! It’s Singles’ Day; a time of year in which China’s bachelors and bachelorettes celebrate their lonesome relationship status in style.
Who are the masterminds behind this wonderful idea? As it turns out, Nanjingers seem to love their freedom more than we thoughy; a few now-graduated university students from Nanjing are the ones that we have to thank for the annual spectacle, which seeks to make up for the pain caused by yet another traumatic Valentine’s.
The idea to commemorate singles on November 11th (11/11), a date filled with numerous lonely number ones, came from scholars at Nanjing University in the early ’90s. The holiday’s popularity has ever since this epiphany gained momentum, culminating to the widespread celebration of independency that China has seen today.
Initially a holiday targeting only men lacking a romantic partner, the celebration nowadays also includes women and encompasses a variety of traditions, ranging from the consumption of “you tiao” for breakfast (a deep fried dough stick, resembling the number one) to going out for a celebratory dinner with fellow singles, where one is encouraged to pay for their own portion of the meal to showcase their strong independence.
In 2012, 400,000 people were single in Nanjing. In light of such statistics, Nanjing’s street vendor’s must have been extremely satisfied with today’s “you tiao” sales. Those in metropoles Beijing and Shanghai must have been even more so, for these cities in this same year housed approximately 1 million singles each.
While some gorge themselves on fried dough or luxurious dinners with friends, others will use Single Day as a platform to escape their state of singledom, doing so through partaking in the many “blind dates” and “single parties” organized by entrepreneurs using the holiday’s connotations to their advantage.
Among the most notorious of businesses commercializing Singles’ Day is Alibaba’s Tmall Website, which has since 2009 advertised an annual “Singes Day” sale event that has resulted in what was once a reason for single people to gather in celebration to evolve into a hysteric nationwide shopping spree.
In light of the fact that due to the nation’s extreme gender imbalance between 50 to 60 million single men in China may never find a life partner, the question arrises whether in a couple of decades will the 11th of November still be seen as a day to celebrate.
