When a few college students jokingly declared Nov. 11th National Singles’ Day in the 90s in China, they would never have imagined that they were creating the biggest online shopping spree in the world. It started as a way for young people to make fun of themselves for being single and invite other single friends to have fun at bars, restaurants and karaoke rooms. They chose 11/11 because 1 is the loneliest number, etc. Then businesses began to take notice.In 2009, online retail giant Alibaba announced it would be selling everything at half price on taobao.com on Nov. 11th. It was the first time for Chinese single men and women, and indeed married people, too, to enjoy huge discounts in online shopping on Singles’ Day. Over the last few years, Alibaba, JD and other Chinese e-commerce companies all expanded their one-day discounts, and sales grew dramatically. In 2014, Alibaba Group scored $5.71 billion in sales on Nov. 11th, setting a new record for the e-commerce giant since it started the Singles’ Day sales five years previously. That was much higher than the combined $3.7 billion online sales of Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the U.S.A.
1-1、Where did the idea of Nov. 11th National Singles’ Day come from?
A、Young people.
B、Some married people.
C、A few college students.
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