We all celebrate the feeling of being in love – whether to be someone’s soul mate or being in a love relationship. But, no culture (apart from China) celebrates the feeling of being single with the same fervor. China’s Single’s Day is the celebration of being single. Isn’t it interesting?
What is Single’s Day?
Single Day is an official holiday in China where single young people celebrate their single status. They take immense pride in announcing that they are not in love relation with anyone.
Single’s Day is celebrated annually on 11th November, which denotes the power of being single as the number “1” in the date denotes a single person. It is also known as ‘Bare Branch Day’. In addition, the pronunciation of 11/11 is way more than similar of “one life, one lifetime”. That is also one more reason behind celebrating on 11/11.
History of Singles’ Day
This one-of-its-kind celebration is credited to the Nanjing University of China which started celebrated this special day in 1993. Numerous theories suggested a few common reasons behind the origin of Singles’ Day or Bachelors’ Day.
One most famous theory suggests that four single undergraduates, from the university’s Mingcaowuzhu dorm, decided to break the singlehood stigma. The Mingcaowuzhu means “All singles”. And they decided to celebrate their single status on the 11th November.
Soon this gained popularity amongst other singles in the university, then followed by the society. The event gradually becomes very popular amongst the Chinese youths and took shape of a grand celebration.
Other than this, there is another apocryphal theory associated with the origin of this event.
A young student in Nanjing University, named Mu Guang Kun, had a girlfriend. She was diagnosed with cancer in their second year of the college. Despite all the effort, she passed away while battling with cancer. This, has never stopped Mu Guang Kun loving her.
He started placing candles on the rooftop of the university campus in the memory of his beloved. In that year on his birthday, his roommates also joined him. It is believed that after this, the university declared his birthday as a holiday. The latter becomes popular out of the campus as well.
Some interesting facts about China’s Singles’ Day
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It is the world’s biggest shopping day
Though the main motto behind celebrating the Singles’ Day is to enjoy singlehood, the holiday takes on a retail transformation as well. It outgrows eating deep-fried dough sticks with friends and become the world’s biggest shopping day.
Chinese people spend millions of dollars on this day by giving extravagant gifts to their single friends. China’s e-commerce giants noticed this, trademarked the date and started giving huge discounts on this date.
Seeing the success of the venture, various retailers also joined hands. Now, November 11 is the day when people go record-breaking shopping. Each year, the sales figure for this particular day is increasing and set new highs. According to the reports, the festival generates US$14.3 billion in 2015 in just 24-hrs. What’s more shocking is that, Alibaba generated $1 billion in only three minutes of sale in the year 2016. The figures are astonishing in every aspect.
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The customary snack
Apart from the date, there is a customary snack that people do eat during celebration to depict their pride of being single. A deep-fried dough stick, known as youtiao, is the customary snack of this festival and it is of like “1” shape. To your surprise, people will eat two or four sticks to symbolize 11/11.
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It has dual significance
Singles’ Day is a celebration of singlehood. And many people, on the other hand, mark it as an end of singlehood. They start looking for soulmates and decide to end their single status. Many lavish their partners with exquisite gifts while some took the opportunity to propose for marriage!
If you are also trying to move on from singlehood on this Singles’ Day, Fabrique could be the right place for you. The platform tailors custom dating services and match you with your preferred potential. Besides personalized dating services, there are curated dating events for you to join as well. Start your dating action plan now and leave singlehood behind!
