WTF: China Has a Holiday for Singles and It’s as Big a Deal as Valentine’s Day
Happy Singles Day, guys! Ever heard of Singles Day? It doesn’t show up on any of your pre-loaded smartphone calendars, but it’s actually kind of a big deal on the other side of the Pacific. The holiday falls on November 11 every year because of all the ones in the date (11/11 — you get the picture). Traditionally, long fried donuts called you tiao are eaten for breakfast on Singles Day (because they look like the number one — again, you get it ;) And, don’t worry! You don’t have to be single to partake in the festivities. In fact, the most popular way to celebrate the holiday is pretty simple. You shop.
Think Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the opposite of Valentine’s rolled into one and you kind of get an inkling of what Singles Day looks like. It’s the biggest shopping holiday of the year for China thanks to all the deals retailers roll out and this year, it blew all previous years’ sales out of the water.
Chinese website Alibaba, an e-commerce site that sells everything from 13-carat diamond rings (according to CNN, one sold for four million dollars last year) to groceries, shattered all records yesterday with the biggest online shopping event in the world by raking in more than $8.96 BILLION (which is what it managed to make last year) in just 24 hours. The online shopping giant managed to make a billion dollars within eight minutes after midnight. Holy cow.
Maybe money really does buy happiness?
What do you think of China’s shopping holiday? Tell us in the comments below!
(h/t CNN Money)