What's the biggest online shopping day in the world?
全球最大的网购日是什么时候？

Not Valentine's Day.
不是情人节。

Not Cyber Monday or Black Friday. They are the days that follow Thanksgiving in the U.S. and usher in the start of the holiday shopping season.
不是网购星期一或黑色星期五。它们是美国感恩节后的几天，也迎来了假日购物节的开始。

The winner is China's Singles' Day, celebrated November 11, or 11.11.
最大的网购日是中国11月11日的光棍节，或称双十一。

Singles' Day began as a day for unmarried or uncoupled people to celebrate their lives. Single students, looking for an excuse to buy themselves presents, started it on November 11, 1993, reported The Guardian.
光棍节最开始是单身人士庆祝的日子。据《卫报》(The Guardian)报道，一些寻找借口给自己买礼物的单身学生从1993年11月11日开始过光棍节。

It is symbolized by the four number ones in the date of November 11 – 11.11— and is also called Double Eleven, in reference to the day it was started, said the BBC.
英国广播公司表示，11月11日这个日期中的4个数字1是光棍节的象征，它也被称为双十一节。

It became a major shopping day in 2009. The CEO of an online shopping site -- Alibaba -- sought to increase sales at the e-commerce company. The CEO, Daniel Zhang, launched an annual online sale that day, said Fortune.
2009年光棍节成为了一个重大的购物日。在线购物网站阿里巴巴的首席执行官张勇（Daniel Zhang）寻求提高这家电子商务公司的销售额，于是他在这天推出了每年一次的网购，《财富》杂志表示。

When it first began, "Singles' Day was very much an offline solace for actual single people," noted the website Atlas Obscura. "A small group of students at Nanjing University are said to have chosen 11.11 as a day that singles could do activities like karaoke together."
Atlas Obscura网站指出，最开始，光棍节完全是真正单身人士的一种网下慰藉。据说南京大学的一小波学生选定了11月11日，这天单身人士可以一起进行卡拉OK之类的活动。

It quickly became a cultural phenomenon.
它迅速成为一种文化现象。

Last year, Alibaba sold more than $1 billion worth of products in the first three minutes of the sales, reported Bloomberg. Total sales on Singles' Day soared to $9 billion within 24 hours.
据彭博社报道，去年阿里巴巴光棍节这天前三分钟卖出了价值超过10亿美元的商品。光棍节的总销售额在24小时内飙升到了90亿美元。

That's four times bigger than Cyber Monday in the U.S., which is the Monday after Thanksgiving and traditionally a big shopping day.
这比美国网购星期一的销售额大四倍。网购星期一是感恩节后的第一个星期一，也是传统的大型购物日。

By comparison, online sales in the U.S. last year on Black Friday were just $1.5 billion, reported TechCrunch.
TechCrunch报道称，相比之下，去年美国黑色星期五的网上销售额只有15亿美元。

Today, Singles' Day is a retail blockbuster. Analysts predict that this year, sales on China Singles' Day will soar to a new high.
如今光棍节是零售业的一个重磅炸弹。分析人士预测今年中国光棍节的销售额将会飙升至新高。

In the U.S., Dealmoon is a shopping site targeting Chinese-Americans. Jennifer Wang is co-founder of the company:
在美国，Dealmoon是一家针对华裔美国人的购物网站。珍妮弗·王（Jennifer Wang）是该公司的联合创始人。

"We expect to have 3 million people coming to our site for the Singles' Day launch."
她说，“预计光棍节会有3百万人访问我们的网站。”

Some observers think Singles' Day could catch on globally.
一些观察家认为光棍节能在全球流行开来。

In West Hollywood, California, a group launched an American version of the event on January 11, 2014, reported Atlas Obscura. They want to make 1.11 an official American holiday, "a day of recognition for those who find themselves on the other side of the couple's fence," according to the website.
据《Atlas Obscura》报道，一家组织于2014年1月11日在加州西好莱坞推出了一种美国版的活动。他们希望将1月11日定为美国正式节日。也就是该网站所说的，“用这天奖励那些走出婚姻围城的人。”