Magical Singles Day

With Thanksgiving approaching, I am saddened by the impending turkey, stuffing, and mashed potato shortage here in China. I am equally saddened that I will have to take a reprieve from my now standard Black Friday tradition of watching movies and shopping online in my pajamas.

Luckily, China had a holiday to help ease my mind. Single's Day is an annual holiday on November 11th in China. The date when written out appears to be four 1's standing alone. It is a day of solidarity for the solitary. Single folks go out with their single friends and watch movies, go shopping, and generally have a good time. Some enterprising young people also take advantage of the holiday to throw blind date or speed dating parties. Meanwhile, couples are cast out to suffer the drudgery of dating in private.

Legend has it that the day originated from a group of Chinese men that did nothing each day but play Mahjong. They had no wives, no children, jobs, (or lives) outside the game. One day they played from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. at night and each game was completed with four sticks tile. Whether you believe this legend or simply think some clever marketer wanted an excuse to sell a few extra trinkets is up to you.

This year Single's Day was extra special. The date yesterday was 2011年11月11日。That is six 1's instead of the regular four! Netizens have dubbed this day Magical Single's Day or Giant Single's Day. According to the blog on FluentFlix this only happens once a century. Fluentflix also had some great suggestion for slang to learn for the day including 明明 for single girls and 光光 for single guys.

How does this assuage my Black Friday and Thanksgiving cravings? Well, shopkeepers responded to the special day by providing significant discounts and sales. Normally, I only get to enjoy being ahead of my State-side friends by one day. But, yesterday I had the privilege of jumping forward two weeks straight to Black Friday!

I resisted the temptation to buy a rug for my apartment and instead chose to focus on my studies; however, I am entertained by the concept. Grade School is filled with fun holidays that spice up an otherwise monotonous routine. I think day to day living would greatly benefit from more days like singles day to allow variation in standard stimuli. Granted, some marketers may try and diminish the fun by capitalizing on the public focus. However, seeing as November and December are entirely devoured by Christmas... I think Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving can share the space with one or two more holidays.