Today (11.11) is Singles’ Day (光棍节), an anti-Valentine’s Day holiday celebrated in China in honor of all bachelors and bachelorettes. Moreover, according to this report by Hayley Peterson, China’s Singles’ Day is also the world’s biggest online shopping day of the year! In the words of Ms Peterson, “Sales on Singles’ Day last year for Alibaba totaled $5.8 billion, up from $3.1 billion the previous year. By comparison, American consumers spent a total of $2.9 billion last year on Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, the largest online sales days in the U.S.” So, why don’t capitalist Americans (North and South) celebrate our own version of Singles’ Day?

Buy something!