Alibaba's Singles Day is a shopping extravaganza of the highest order

China’s Singles Day, also known as 11.11 or Double 11, started in 1993 at Nanjing University as a day for students to celebrate their singledom. In 2009, Alibaba transformed the holiday from an “anti-Valentine’s Day” for Chinese singletons to the “11.11 Global Shopping Festival,” which now also sees JD.com participate with its own multi-day event culminating on November 11.