Single's Day is a boon for businesses

SHIJIAZHUANG, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Wang Haiming was determined not to sit in his apartment alone on Nov. 11, 2011, a day with six "1"s on the calendar and a headache for the 33-year-old bachelor.

Instead, Wang joined a tour group of 34 single men and women, hoping to find romance while traveling around south China's resort island of Hainan.

"I'd like to make this year's Single's Day truly memorable by finding a Miss Right and ending my bachelorhood," said Wang.

Unattached Chinese men and women celebrate Single's Day on November 11 as the date consists of four "ones," a number that visualizes the Chinese word for bachelor -- "bare stick."

Although it started as a campus joke in the 1990s, Single's Day has in recent years evolved into a real festival, a boon for businesses as fashionable young people swarm shopping malls to mark the day.

This year marks the Super Single's Day, as six "1"s make up 11/11/11, savvy merchants have rolled out love-themed products and kicked off sales promotions in hopes of boosting the traditionally bleak retail period.

On Taobao.com, a bustling B2C platform in China, shirts with "Not Lonely" emblazoned on the front and "certificates" issued to "bare sticks" have been among the website's best-selling items just days ahead of Nov. 11.