IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — On this day, in the year 1993, the story goes that four bachelors in a Chinese university dorm were lamenting how they were single. It was hard for them, being so alone when all they wanted was to be loved.
They looked at a calendar, and saw the date, November 11th, which appeared as 11/11.
There was a “1” for each of them, surely it was a sign.
They decided to celebrate single life instead of regretting it, and the impromptu holiday spread, through the university and into wider Chinese culture.
It was originally known as Bachelor’s Day, now known as Single’s Day.
Many stores do promotions and sales for the holiday, and it’s actually the biggest day for e-commerce out of the year, world wide.
People also celebrate by throwing blind date parties, and ironically, it’s now also a day to celebrate relationships.
More than 4000 couples got married in Beijing on this date in 2011.
That’s a lot, especially compared to the city’s average of 700 marriages a day.
We’re not sure whether it’s “Single’s Day”, with the apostrophe on the inside, or “Singles’ Day,” with the apostrophe on the outside.
The former suggests the day belongs to each single person individually, while the latter implies it belongs to all singles collectively, a day to be alone, together.
We’ll let you decide.
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