November 11 (11/11) is celebrated as Singles Day, or Guanggun Jie ('bare sticks holiday'), by singles in China.
Back in the 90s, students at Nanjing University conceived the single-life celebration to include parties and karaoke.
The special date soon became popularized via the internet and social networks.
In 2009, China's ecommerce giant Alibaba Group piggy-backed 11/11 to promote a day of half-priced sales on its retail websites, Taobao and Tmall.
Three years later, Alibaba copyrighted the marketing term 'Double 11'.
Singles Day is now more than a pop-culture celebration - it has become an online shopping phenomenon. Tmall is ranked as the 18th most visited website in the world, according to Alexa, while Alibaba smashed its one-day trading record this year, with online sales in excess of US$9 billion.
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