The Wǒ Men podcast is a bi-weekly discussion of life in China hosted by Yajun Zhang and Jingjing Zhang. Previous episodes of the Wǒ Men podcast can be found here, and you can find Wǒ Men on iTunes here. 11.11, also known as Singles’ Day, is a relatively new holiday. Originally founded to celebrate single life in the face of huge societal pressure to marry, the holiday has evolved over the years. Today, Singles’ Day is better recognized as the world’s biggest online shopping festival. Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce company and originator of the Singles’ Day shopping phenomenon, achieved sales of over $25 billion in 2017 — it continues to smash its own record each year. Outside of e-commerce, the consumerist energy of Singles’ Day trickles down from Taobao and Tmall, driving derivative businesses such as influencer marketing and offline retail. Today, Jingjing and Yajun talk about the fascinating buy, buy, buy culture behind the holiday. Let’s take a look at what’s in their shopping cart. Related: China Explained: How Singles’ Day Became the World’s Biggest Shopping Event Infographic: Here’s What Happens in One Minute on the Chinese Internet Alibaba is Launching a Space Station for its 11.11 Shopping Festival
