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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
在今天的播报中，光棍节成为了每年的网购节。
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.
光棍节开始于20世纪90年代，那一天南京大学的光棍一族将与其他单身进行交流。人们选择11月11日的原因是这一天都是由数字1组成。学生会举办约会活动或是单身派对，近年来光棍节成为了一种传统。让人矛盾的是，这一天不仅仅是庆祝单身的日子，还是结束单身的日子。如今，这一节日不仅在学生之间展开，它已经成为了全国性的节日。相亲会已经成为了这一节日的一部分，但这一天最知名的就是层出不穷的电商打折活动，这天的销售额将达到数十亿美金。例如阿里巴巴、京东等巨头会利用这一节日将这一天变成网上购物大战。他们的目标就是单身一族和未婚女性，购买欲将让他们缓解孤独。但是，这一购物街不像是情人节，更像是黑色星期五。不管男女老少都想获得五折或是更低的优惠。每年这一纪录都被打破。今年，阿里巴巴在头一个小时的销售额就达到了20亿美金，这相当于去年9个小时的价值。价格将让售卖者出。许多使用购物网站的商家抱怨网站的不合理规则。例如，商家必须比竞争网站的价格还要低，否则他们就会有被拉下搜索结果的危险。还有的抱怨说在光棍节到来前夕故意增加价格的行为。今年，工商管理局警告称电商必须抵制超出底线的不合法行为，不要欺骗消费者或是给销售者施加压力。
For Caixin English, this is Nikolai Blackie
这是尼古拉·布莱基为您带来的财新新闻报道
译文属可可英语原创，未经允许，不得转载。
