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On today's podcast we look at the phenomenon of Singles Day that has become the annual online shopping event of the year
在今天的播報中，光棍節(jié)成為了每年的網購節(jié)。
Singles Day started out in the 1990s as a day for single people at Nanjing University to mix with other singles. The 11th of the 11th was chosen as it is the date in the calendar made up of the most number 1s. Students would put on dating events and singles parties, growing it into a tradition over the years. Paradoxically, it was not just a day to celebrate being single, but also a day to try to stop being single. Nowadays it is a nationwide phenomenon for all single people in China, not just students. Matchmaking fairs andblind dates are still part of the festivities but even more well-known is the special day of e-commerce discounts that has emerged, pushing total sales up into the billions of dollars. Giants such as Alibaba and Jingdong have taken advantage of Singles Day to turn it into an online consumption frenzy. Their idea was to target bachelors and spinsters, offering the comfort of a new possession to ease their loneliness. However, the shopping festival has become less of a St Valentine’s Day and more of a Black Friday, with people of all ages, married or single, able to gain discounts of 50% or more. Records are broken each year. This year Alibaba reached $2bn worth of sales on Tmall in the first hour, equivalent to what it made in 9 hours last year. The price of these numbers is paid by the sellers. Some merchants who use the e-commerce sites have complained of aggressive rules enforced by the owners. For instance, merchants must list their products on Tmall at lower prices than on rival sites or risk being pushed down in the search results. Complaints have been made previously over artificially inflated prices in the run up to Singles Day. This year the State Administration for Industry and Commerce has warned the biggest e-commerce firms to curb their borderline illegal behavior so as not to fool the consumer or pressure their sellers.
光棍節(jié)開始于20世紀90年代，那一天南京大學的光棍一族將與其他單身進行交流。人們選擇11月11日的原因是這一天都是由數字1組成。學生會舉辦約會活動或是單身派對，近年來光棍節(jié)成為了一種傳統(tǒng)。讓人矛盾的是，這一天不僅僅是慶祝單身的日子，還是結束單身的日子。如今，這一節(jié)日不僅在學生之間展開，它已經成為了全國性的節(jié)日。相親會已經成為了這一節(jié)日的一部分，但這一天最知名的就是層出不窮的電商打折活動，這天的銷售額將達到數十億美金。例如阿里巴巴、京東等巨頭會利用這一節(jié)日將這一天變成網上購物大戰(zhàn)。他們的目標就是單身一族和未婚女性，購買欲將讓他們緩解孤獨。但是，這一購物街不像是情人節(jié)，更像是黑色星期五。不管男女老少都想獲得五折或是更低的優(yōu)惠。每年這一紀錄都被打破。今年，阿里巴巴在頭一個小時的銷售額就達到了20億美金，這相當于去年9個小時的價值。價格將讓售賣者出。許多使用購物網站的商家抱怨網站的不合理規(guī)則。例如，商家必須比競爭網站的價格還要低，否則他們就會有被拉下搜索結果的危險。還有的抱怨說在光棍節(jié)到來前夕故意增加價格的行為。今年，工商管理局警告稱電商必須抵制超出底線的不合法行為，不要欺騙消費者或是給銷售者施加壓力。
For Caixin English, this is Nikolai Blackie
這是尼古拉·布萊基為您帶來的財新新聞報道
譯文屬可可英語原創(chuàng)，未經允許，不得轉載。
