{"id":1316,"date":"2016-11-10T19:39:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T03:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/master.k8s.p4.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/aboutus\/1316\/singles-day-is-a-disaster-for-our-pockets-and-the-planet\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T15:11:57","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T07:11:57","slug":"singles-day-is-a-disaster-for-our-pockets-and-the-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/blog\/1316\/singles-day-is-a-disaster-for-our-pockets-and-the-planet\/","title":{"rendered":"Singles Day is a disaster for our pockets, and the planet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anna McGurk is a content editor for Greenpeace East Asia in Beijing <\/em><\/p>\n

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Last year, China\u2019s biggest shopping festival saw 125,000 orders processed every minute over 24 hours. This year promises to be even bigger\u2026 and that\u2019s bad news for the environment.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

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What began as a tongue-in cheek poke at China\u2019s couple-obsessed culture has morphed into the single biggest online shopping event in the world.<\/p>\n

\u2018Singles\u2019 Day\u2019 is almost upon us: a frenzied 24-hour shopping festival that generates bigger sales \u2013 and bigger volumes of waste \u2013 than Black Friday and Cyber Monday<\/a> put together.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So named for the symbolic loneliness of the date 11.11, the holiday was started by students in Nanjing University in the early 90s<\/a> as an excuse to celebrate single life and treat themselves to gifts. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It remained fairly small until 2009 when executives at Alibaba, China\u2019s biggest online shopping platform, saw an opportunity and decided to stage a 24 hour-only event, slashing prices on everything from phones and clothing, to electronics, furniture and much more. It was a roaring success.<\/p>\n

Since then, Singles\u2019 Day sales have mushroomed into a feverish buy-a-thon that is unrivaled globally. China\u2019s online shopping population more than tripled in the past five years to 410 million and their pockets are deep: entering its eighth year, Alibaba\u2019s Singles Day sales are predicted to hit USD20 Billion \u2013 an increase of 40% from last year\u2019s record-breaking sales.<\/p>\n

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Daniel Craig of James Bond fame at Alibaba\u2019s Singles\u2019 Day gala. pic.twitter.com\/pZVdXxjBPm<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Gillian Wong \/ \u9ec4\u656c\u9f84 (@gillianwong) November 10, 2015<\/a><\/p>\n