(Photo/Xinhua)

One month after the Double 11 shopping festival, whose trade volume topped 120.7 billion RMB within 24 hours, Jack Ma’s Alipay is now ready for the Double 12 (Dec. 12) global shopping carnival. In honor of the event, Alipay held a fairytale-like launch ceremony in Finland, with Santa Claus and Finnish cartoon characters Moomins as guests of honor.

The ceremony was held in Rovaniemi, Finland, the "official" hometown of Santa Claus. According to a video clip of the ceremony released on Dec. 8, a Finnish man dressed like Santa Claus greeted a group of what appeared to be Chinese tourists. The group was then led by Santa into the woods, where an ice sculpture commissioned for Double 12 was ceremoniously illuminated.

(Snapshot of Alipay video)

In the video, Santa Claus was also given a coat with the colors red, yellow and green – a typical color scheme in northern China. Moomins were also visible in the video, along with Alipay's mascot, a blue ant.

(Snapshot of Alipay video)

According to the company, Rovaniemi authorities granted Alipay a permanent 3.6-meter-high landmark with a tag reading “2016 Alipay 1212 Opening Ceremony #Rovaniemi.”

(Photo/Xinhua)

(Snapshot of Alipay video)

Similar ceremonies will also be held in several other countries and regions to mark the festival, including Macau Tower in Macau, Taipei 101 in Taiwan and Lotte World Tower in South Korea.

A total of 70,000 shops carrying 7,000 brands from 16 countries and regions will be participate in the upcoming shopping spree, all offering products for some sort of discount. A number of duty-free shops and malls across the world will allow payment with Alipay, including Harrods and DFS. Alipay will also be available in 12 international airports.