Singles’ Day Online Shopping Festival in China Brings Big Sales, Fraud, Addiction, and Tragedy

Singles’ Day Online Shopping Festival in China Brings Big Sales, Fraud, Addiction, and Tragedy
An electronic screen in Shanghai shows the amount of money spent by consumers on the Alibaba online retailer site nationwide during the Nov. 11 Singles Day shopping festival on November 11, 2017. STR/AFP/Getty Images
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Nov. 11, also known as Singles’ Day, is an online shopping holiday in China unlike any other. A star-studded show hosted by China’s largest online retailer, Alibaba, kicked off the festivities, originally conceived as an online sales event for singles to treat themselves with some retail therapy. This year, actress Nicole Kidman, rapper Pharrell Williams, and Chinese film stars Zhang Ziyi and Fan Bingbing were among those present at a gala in Shanghai.
By the end of a 24-hour period, Alibaba had made 168.3 billion yuan, or roughly $25 billion—an almost 40 percent increase from last year’s 120.7 billion yuan ($17.8 billion).
Annie Wu
Annie Wu
Author
Annie Wu joined the full-time staff at the Epoch Times in July 2014. That year, she won a first-place award from the New York Press Association for best spot news coverage. She is a graduate of Barnard College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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