Happy Chinese Singles' Day

What is Chinese Singles Day

Singles' Day or Guanggun Jie (Pronounced - Kuang-kun chieh) is a festival celebrated predominantly by young Chinese People to highlight the fact that they are proud to be single.

The 11th November (11.11) is chosen because the number "1" resembles an individual that is alone.

The literal meaning of Kuang-kun chieh is “bare sticks holiday”, which comes from the Chinese slang for bachelor. When the holiday was created in the mid-90s, it was originally known as Bachelors’ Day as it was only celebrated by young men without romantic partners.  As the holiday has evolved and grown in the past 20 years, so has the audience. An estimated 180 million single people (both men and women) in China will celebrate Singles Day in 2016.

Traditions

As Singles Day is still a relatively new day of celebration, traditions are still evolving, but there are a few that people are already used to observing. As the 90s students become middle-aged adults, these traditions have moved from universities into modern day society.

Singles will eat four deep-fried dough sticks (youtiao) and a steam bun for breakfast to represent the four singles and 1 dot in 11.11.

Many singles will go to dinner with groups of single friends to celebrate and each person will pay for their meals individually to represent their independence.

Young people, websites and companies will hold “Blind Date” parties in the hope of helping people find their perfect partner.

Though it is a day to celebrate singlehood, some people use the occasion to confess their true feelings or to give gifts to impress their partner. Many men see Singles’ Day as the perfect day to propose to their girlfriends.

People also see Singles’ Day as an opportunity to treat themselves and other single friends.
Single or not, we think everyone deserves a chance to spoil themselves, so we are offering 11% off a huge range of watches and jewellery from 11th to 13th November! Shop our sale to find the perfect treat!