 |
| How Double Eleven Birth |
For a country where many major holidays can be traced back thousands of years, Singles Day is a refreshingly recent invention. No one is quite sure exactly who first thought it up, but it definitely emerged as a student tradition in the mid-1990s. The most widely accepted story is that it emerged from the dorms of Nanjing University in 1993 when four single male students got together to discuss how to break free of the loneliness and monotony of single life. One suggested that because of the ones in the date, November 11 would be a good day on which to organize activities for singles.
中国的很多传统节日都可以追溯到上千年以前，但光混节却是个最近几年才兴起的节日。没人能确切说出是谁先想出了这个节日，但能够肯定的是它最早出现在上世纪九十年代中期，是大学生们的一项传统。大家公认的说法是，1993年在南京大学的宿舍里，有4个单身男生聚在一起讨论如何摆脱单身生活的孤独和乏味时，其中一个建议说11月11日恰好是四个数字1组成的，就像4个光棍，所以这天可能会是个为光棍们组织活动的好日子。
zhōng guó de hěn duō chuán tǒng jié rì dōu kě yǐ zhuī sù dào shàng qiān nián yǐ qián ， dàn guāng hùn jié què shì gè zuì jìn jǐ nián cái xīng qǐ de jié rì 。 méi rén néng què qiè shuō chū shì shéi xiān xiǎng chū le zhè gè jié rì ， dàn néng gòu kěn dìng de shì tā zuì zǎo chū xiàn zài shàng shì jì jiǔ shí nián dài zhōng qī ， shì dà xué shēng men de yī xiàng chuán tǒng 。 dà jiā gōng rèn de shuō fǎ shì ，1993 nián zài nán jīng dà xué de sù shè lǐ ， yǒu 4 gè dān shēn nán shēng jù zài yī qǐ tǎo lùn rú hé bǎi tuō dān shēn shēng huó de gū dú hé fá wèi shí ， qí zhōng yī gè jiàn yì shuō 11 yuè 11 rì qià hǎo shì sì gè shù zì 1 zǔ chéng de ， jiù xiàng 4 gè guāng gùn ， suǒ yǐ zhè tiān kě néng huì shì gè wéi guāng gùn men zǔ zhī huó dòng de hǎo rì zi 。
What started as an idea executed by a small group of friends gradually became a university tradition. Singles Day grew into something like the anti-Valentines day, a day China’s single young people – at first just men, but later single women adopted the tradition as well – could use as an excuse to get together and do fun stuff like visit karaoke bars together.
就这样，只是由几个朋友想出来的主意慢慢变成了大学里的一项传统。光棍节，逐渐发展成一个与情人节相对的节日，一开始是单身男性的节日，后来单身女性也加入其中，把它当做一个和朋友聚餐玩乐的节日。
jiù zhè yàng ， zhǐ shì yóu jǐ gè péng yǒu xiǎng chū lái de zhǔ yì màn màn biàn chéng le dà xué lǐ de yī xiàng chuán tǒng 。 guāng gùn jié ， zhú jiàn fā zhǎn chéng yī gè yǔ qíng rén jié xiāng duì de jié rì ， yī kāi shǐ shì dān shēn nán xìng de jié rì ， hòu lái dān shēn nǚ xìng yě jiā rù qí zhōng ， bǎ tā dàng zuò yī gè hé péng yǒu jù cān wán lè de jié rì 。
 |
| buy buy buy |
The fact that the holiday went from local to national in less than two decades likely has a lot to do with China’s demographics and its culture. The country has a serious gender gap – by 2020 it will have 35 million more men than it does women. And because there’s immense family pressure on many young Chinese men and women to find a suitable partner and marry young, young people of both genders embraced the holiday as a kind of release.
光棍节能在短短二十多年的时间里从一个小众节日成为一个全国范围内的节日和中国的人口特点及文化是分不开的。中国的男女比例差异较大，到2020年男性人口将比女性人口多出3500万。而很多年轻人又承受着来自家庭的“催婚”压力，所以单身男性和女性都把光棍节看做是一个解脱的节日。
guāng gùn jié néng zài duǎn duǎn èr shí duō nián de shí jiān lǐ cóng yī gè xiǎo zhòng jié rì chéng wéi yī gè quán guó fàn wéi nèi de jié rì hé zhōng guó de rén kǒu tè diǎn jí wén huà shì fēn bù kāi de 。 zhōng guó de nán nǚ bǐ lì chā yì jiào dà ， dào 2020 nián nán xìng rén kǒu jiāng bǐ nǚ xìng rén kǒu duō chū 3500 wàn 。 ér hěn duō nián qīng rén yòu chéng shòu zhe lái zì jiā tíng de “ cuī hūn ” yā lì ， suǒ yǐ dān shēn nán xìng hé nǚ xìng dōu bǎ guāng gùn jié kàn zuò shì yī gè jiě tuō de jié rì 。
I say the holiday was about being with friends and having fun because, now, Singles Day is about shopping – mostly online shopping. How did an underground youth holiday go corporate? It’s a long story, but the short answer is Alibaba.
在以前，光棍节就是和朋友们一起吃喝玩，可现在说到光棍节，让人想到的就是网购。那么，年轻人的一个节日怎么就走向商业化了呢？这说起来话长，但简单说原因就是阿里巴巴。
zài yǐ qián ， guāng gùn jié jiù shì hé péng yǒu men yī qǐ chī hē wán ， kě xiàn zài shuō dào guāng gùn jié ， ràng rén xiǎng dào de jiù shì wǎng gòu 。 nà me ， nián qīng rén de yī gè jié rì zěn me jiù zǒu xiàng shāng yè huà le ne ？ zhè shuō qǐ lái huà cháng ， dàn jiǎn dān shuō yuán yīn jiù shì ɑ lǐ bā bā 。
 |
| buy for me |
By the late 2000s, Singles Day was well known enough that most of China’s internet users – who skew young and urban – were familiar with it. There might have been some small shops online and offline offering sales on that day earlier, but no major company bought into the holiday until Alibaba launched its first Singles Day online sale in 2009.
二十一世纪的头几年里，中国大多数网民已经熟知光棍节了。那时候在这天到来之前，会有规模较小的网上商店以及线下的实体店举行打折活动，但一直没有较大的公司参与，直到2009年阿里巴巴第一次在光棍节举行网购活动。
èr shí yī shì jì de tóu jǐ nián lǐ ， zhōng guó dà duō shù wǎng mín yǐ jīng shú zhī guāng gùn jié le 。 nà shí hòu zài zhè tiān dào lái zhī qián ， huì yǒu guī mó jiào xiǎo de wǎng shàng shāng diàn yǐ jí xiàn xià de shí tǐ diàn jǔ xíng dǎ zhé huó dòng ， dàn yī zhí méi yǒu jiào dà de gōng sī cān yù ， zhí dào 2009 nián ɑ lǐ bā bā dì yī cì zài guāng gùn jié jǔ xíng wǎng gòu huó dòng 。
 |
| buy buy buy |
In that first year, Alibaba was the only major e-commerce company to offer a sale, and it featured just 27 brands offering discounts via its Tmall marketplace. The sale was definitely successful, but it wasn’t enough to redefine the holiday on its own.
在这第一年里，只有阿里巴巴一家电商企业举行了打折活动，天猫上也只有27家品牌参与活动，但销售额相当可观。不过这依然不足以重新定义这个节日。
zài zhè dì yī nián lǐ ， zhǐ yǒu ɑ lǐ bā bā yī jiā diàn shāng qǐ yè jǔ xíng le dǎ zhé huó dòng ， tiān māo shàng yě zhǐ yǒu 27 jiā pǐn pái cān yù huó dòng ， dàn xiāo shòu é xiāng dāng kě guān 。 bù guò zhè yī rán bù zú yǐ chóng xīn dìng yì zhè gè jié rì 。
 |
| buy buy buy |
2010 changed things, though. Alibaba went bigger, offering more brands and deeper discounts. But other companies had noticed the potential of the 2009 sales bonanza and decided to follow suit. E-commerce platforms like JD had their first major Singles Day sales in 2010, and overnight Singles Day went from a Tmall sale to something that was beginning to look like Cyber Monday in some western countries.
2010年改变开始了。阿里巴巴日益壮大，汇集了更多的品牌、提供了更大的折扣。其他商家也在看到阿里巴巴09年的成功后决定效仿。比如电商平台京东2010年第一次在光棍节举行促销活动。就这样，光棍节似乎在一夜之间从天猫购物节开始变的有点像西方国家的网购星期一（在美国，商店通常在星期一列出大折扣的商品，发布在网上，为了吸引顾客）了。
2010 nián gǎi biàn kāi shǐ le 。 ɑ lǐ bā bā rì yì zhuàng dà ， huì jí le gèng duō de pǐn pái 、 tí gōng le gèng dà de zhé kòu 。 qí tā shāng jiā yě zài kàn dào ɑ lǐ bā bā 09 nián de chéng gōng hòu jué dìng xiào fǎng 。 bǐ rú diàn shāng píng tái jīng dōng 2010 nián dì yī cì zài guāng gùn jié jǔ xíng cù xiāo huó dòng 。 jiù zhè yàng ， guāng gùn jié sì hū zài yī yè zhī jiān cóng tiān māo gòu wù jié kāi shǐ biàn de yǒu diǎn xiàng xī fāng guó jiā de wǎng gòu xīng qī yī （ zài měi guó ， shāng diàn tōng cháng zài xīng qī yī liè chū dà zhé kòu de shāng pǐn ， fā bù zài wǎng shàng ， wèi le xī yǐn gù kè ） le 。
Over the next few years, Alibaba, JD, and other Chinese e-commerce players all expanded their one-day discounts, and sales grew exponentially. On Singles Day in 2012, for example, Alibaba’s marketplaces, Taobao and Tmall, did about US$3 billion in sales. In 2013 that number nearly doubled, and Chinese shoppers had obliterated America’s Cyber Monday spending records in just the first few hours of the sale. And it’s only getting bigger.
接下来的几年里，阿里巴巴、京东等各大电商企业都加大了在光棍节当天的促销范围和力度，销售额也成倍增长。2012年的光棍节，阿里巴巴旗下的淘宝和天猫总销售额达30亿美元。2013年该数字翻了一番，中国网购买家仅头几个小时的销售额就破了美国网购星期一的记录。而且，这个数字只会越来越大。
jiē xià lái de jǐ nián lǐ ， ɑ lǐ bā bā 、 jīng dōng děng gè dà diàn shāng qǐ yè dōu jiā dà le zài guāng gùn jié dāng tiān de cù xiāo fàn wéi hé lì dù ， xiāo shòu é yě chéng bèi zēng cháng 。2012 nián de guāng gùn jié ， ɑ lǐ bā bā qí xià de táo bǎo hé tiān māo zǒng xiāo shòu é dá 30 yì měi yuán 。2013 nián gāi shù zì fān le yī fān ， zhōng guó wǎng gòu mǎi jiā jǐn tóu jǐ gè xiǎo shí de xiāo shòu é jiù pò le měi guó wǎng gòu xīng qī yī de jì lù 。 ér qiě ， zhè gè shù zì zhī huì yuè lái yuè dà 。
This year’s Singles Day online shopping bonanza is likely to break all the records set last year. If Alibaba can keep its pace, it may do more than US$10 billion in sales in 24 hours. That’s already pretty crazy, but the next step for Singles Day may be for it to set foot outside of the Middle Kingdom. The world, meet Singles Day.
今年的光棍节网购狂欢必会打破去年的记录。按这个势头，阿里巴巴今年在24小时内的销售额可达100亿美元以上。这已经够疯狂了，但阿里巴巴并不满足于此，而是决定把光棍节的网购狂欢带向全世界。
jīn nián de guāng gùn jié wǎng gòu kuáng huān bì huì dǎ pò qù nián de jì lù 。 àn zhè gè shì tóu ， ɑ lǐ bā bā jīn nián zài 24 xiǎo shí nèi de xiāo shòu é kě dá 100 yì měi yuán yǐ shàng 。 zhè yǐ jīng gòu fēng kuáng le ， dàn ɑ lǐ bā bā bìng bù mǎn zú yú cǐ ， ér shì jué dìng bǎ guāng gùn jié de wǎng gòu kuáng huān dài xiàng quán shì jiè 。
In an article about the company’s plans for Singles Day, Tmall CEO Wang Yulei wrote that Alibaba’s “core keyword” this year is globalization:
天猫CEO王煜磊在一篇有关光棍节计划的文章中提到了阿里巴巴今年网购狂欢的关键词“全球化”。
tiān māo CEO wáng yù lěi zài yī piān yǒu guān guāng gùn jié jì huà de wén zhāng zhōng tí dào le ɑ lǐ bā bā jīn nián wǎng gòu kuáng huān de guān jiàn cí “ quán qiú huà ”。
We want consumers to be able to buy products from all over the world, and Chinese people all across the world to be able to buy the products they need.
“我们想让消费者买到世界各地的商品，也想让世界各地的中国人都能买到他们需要的东西。”
“ wǒ men xiǎng ràng xiāo fèi zhě mǎi dào shì jiè gè dì de shāng pǐn ， yě xiǎng ràng shì jiè gè dì de zhōng guó rén dōu néng mǎi dào tā men xū yào de dōng xī 。”
Amazon China, too, is making moves towards taking the holiday global. Even JD is looking at the international market in the long run.
亚马逊中国也计划在光棍节的促销活动中打“国际牌”。连京东也开始从长远考虑国际市场。
yà mǎ xùn zhōng guó yě jì huà zài guāng gùn jié de cù xiāo huó dòng zhōng dǎ “ guó jì pái ”。 lián jīng dōng yě kāi shǐ cóng cháng yuǎn kǎo lǜ guó jì shì chǎng 。
Of course, there’s still a long way to go before Singles Day is a truly global phenomenon, and it may never get there.
当然让光棍节的网购狂欢全球化可能还需要走一段很长的路，也有可能永远不会全球化。
dāng rán ràng guāng gùn jié de wǎng gòu kuáng huān quán qiú huà kě néng hái xū yào zǒu yī duàn hěn cháng de lù ， yě yǒu kě néng yǒng yuǎn bù huì quán qiú huà 。
But the commercial aspects of the holiday are already big enough to be of interest to the global Chinese diaspora, and where it spreads from there is anyone’s guess.
但是光棍节的狂欢现在已经扩展到了中国的华人，而它将继续向哪里扩展，没人猜得到。
dàn shì guāng gùn jié de kuáng huān xiàn zài yǐ jīng kuò zhǎn dào le zhōng guó de huá rén ， ér tā jiāng jì xù xiàng nǎ lǐ kuò zhǎn ， méi rén cāi dé dào 。
Comments
Post a Comment