Today is Singles Day, the biggest shopping day of the year in China. Singles Day falls on November 11th because the written date is all lonely, lonely ones: 11/11. From the BBC:
E-commerce giant Alibaba has broken its own record for sales on China’s Singles Day, the world’s biggest online shopping event. About half way through the 24-hour-long sale, the site surpassed the 57.1bn yuan worth of sales ($8.96bn; £5.91bn) made during the entire event last year. Alibaba said more than $1bn was spent within eight minutes of midnight, which is when the sale starts. Singles Day is held on 11 November and is a major event for Chinese retailers. In comparison, sales on Cyber Monday, which is the biggest online shopping day in the US, hit $1.35bn, according to data analytics firm ComScore.
Chinese singles often buy themselves extravagant presents on Singles Day, ostensibly as solace for being alone.