HSK - Creative Singles Day

CITYLIFE / Odds & Ends






Creative Singles Day

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-11-10 09:30



Singles Day falls on every November 11th, and as the name indicates, this
relatively new holiday is one exclusively for people who are still living
the single life. I was a bit surprised when I googled 'Singles Day' on
the Internet, to find that China is the only country in the world that
has set aside a special day for singles to celebrate their lives. To find
out more about this celebration, read on.

Origin of Singles Day

Betting

An old story goes that once there were four single men, leading very
boring lives. None of them were married, or had lovers, or did anything
exciting. They just sat around all day and played Mahjong.

One day they played Mahjong from 11 in the morning until 11 at night.
During the game, no matter who won, the winning card was always the 'four
columns' card (the card shows four independent, parallel columns in two
lines). Even more of a coincidence, it was Nov 11, or 11/11. In order to
commemorate the day, they nicknamed it Singles Day.

University culture

Singles Day was first celebrated at various universities in Nanjing,
capital city of Jiangsu Province during the 1990s. It got the name
Singles Day because the date is comprised of four "ones". These college
students have since graduated, and carried their university tradition
into society. Singles Day is now a special day for all fashionable youths.

The main way to celebrate Singles Day is to have dinner with your single
friends, but it's important that each person pay their own way to show
their independence. People also hold 'blind date' parties in an attempt
to bid goodbye to their single lives.

Creative celebration

For breakfast on Singles Day, singles often eat four youtiao (deep-fried
dough sticks) representing the four "ones" in "11.11" and one baozi
(steamed stuffed buns) representing the middle dot.

Many singles also choose to say goodbye to their single lives on this
day. Many attend 'blind date' parties and many people choose to marry on
this day. In addition to meaning 'single' the four 'ones' of the date can
also mean 'only one' as in 'the only one for me.' Some people will use
this date and this meaning to tell their special someone that they are
the only 'one' in their heart.

Related: Single? Don't worry, be happy!
Love for Singles Day
Quest for romance, down new silk road










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