November 11, a day represented by four digits of 1, has been dubbed "Singles Day"

　　by young single Chinese. China is the only country in the world that has set aside a specialday for singles to celebrate their lives. To find out more about this celebration, read on.

　　11月11日，因其由四个阿拉伯数字“1”构成，于是便被中国的年轻单身族称为“光棍节”。中国是世界上唯一一个专门为光棍们设立节日的国家。接下来让我们更深入地来了解一下这个节日吧。

　　Among Chinese in the 22 to 49 age bracket, males outnumber females by 16.97 million, which means tens of millions of single Chinese in this age group.

　　在22岁至49岁这个年龄段中，中国男性的人数比女性多出了1697万人，这就意味着这个年龄段里会有上千万的光棍出现。

　　When explaining the reasons for being single 40 percent interviewees believe growing self-consciousness among the young has raised the bar for selecting the other half. 20 percent netizens believe it is because social environment has become more tolerant and being single is facing less pressure of public opinion.

　　当问起光棍增多的原因，40%的受访者表示年轻人对自身感受的重视增加了寻找另一半的难度。而20%的网民则认为宽松的社会环境和公众压力的减少导致了光棍的增多。

　　Origin of Singles Day 节日起源

　　An old story goes that once there were four single men, leading very boring lives. None of them were married, or had lovers, or did anything exciting. They just sat around all day and played Mahjong.

　　故事从四个过着单调生活的单身汉说起。他们没有人结婚，连女朋友都没有，日子过得无精打采，终日用麻将打发日子。

　　One day they played Mahjong from 11 in the morning until 11 at night. During the game, no matter who won, the winning card was always the "four columns" card. Even more of a coincidence, it was Nov 11, or 11/11. In order to commemorate the day, they nicknamed it Singles Day.

　　有一天他们打麻将从早上11点打到了晚上11点。牌局中，不管谁赢，都赢在了“四条”上。更加巧合的是，这一天正好是11月11号。为了纪念这一天，他们给它命名为“光棍节”。

　　University culture 大学文化

　　Singles Day was first celebrated at various universities in Nanjing, capital city of Jiangsu Province during the 1990s. These college students have since graduated, and carried their university tradition into society. Singles Day is now a special day for all fashionable youths.

　　光棍节最先在90年代的江苏南京各大高校兴起。大学生们毕业了，把这个传统带到了社会上，光棍节就成了时尚青年们的一个特殊节日。

　　The main way to celebrate Singles Day is to have dinner with your single friends, but it's important that each person pay their own way to show their independence. People also hold "blind date" parties in an attempt to bid goodbye to their single lives.

　　主流的庆祝方式就是和光棍朋友们一起搓一顿，而且一定要实行AA制。为了脱离单身，人们也会举办相亲会，介绍单身男女相互认识。

　　Creative celebration 新奇庆祝

　　For breakfast on Singles Day, singles often eat four youtiao representing the four "ones" in "11.11" and one baozi representing the middle dot.

　　光棍节的早上，单身青年们会吃四根油条，代表11.11的四个“1”，然后再吃一个包子，代表11和11之间的那个点。

　　Many singles also choose to say goodbye to their single lives on this day. Many attend "blind date" parties and many people choose to marry on this day. In addition to meaning "single" the four "ones" of the date can also mean "only one" as in "the only one for me". Some people will use this date and this meaning to tell their special someone that they are the only "one" in their heart.

　　很多单身朋友选择在这一天告别单身。一些人参加相亲会，还有许多人选择在这天结婚。四个“1”不仅可以代表单身，还可以代表“唯一”，即”你是我的唯一“。所以一些人会选择这天作为爱情告白日，向“心中的唯一”表明心迹。