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IT IS “one of the few bright spots in the Chinese economy,” says Zeng Ming. He is talking about e-commerce. Mr Zeng, the chief strategy officer for Alibaba, a giant Chinese internet firm, predicts that digital transactions on his firm’s platforms will top 1 trillion yuan ($159 billion) this year—more than Amazon’s and eBay’s combined. That is a bold claim; but consider what happened on Singles Sunday. 中国互联网巨头——阿里巴巴集团【注1】的总参谋长曾鸣【注2】将电子商务称为“中国经济少有的亮点之一”。他预测，今年阿里巴巴各平台的数字交易额将突破10000亿元人民币（约合1590亿美元），超过亚马逊和 eBay 的交易额总和。曾鸣此言大胆无畏；看看上周日光棍节那天的情况就可想而知了。 Invented a few years ago by students and seized upon by digital marketers, this festival for lonely hearts falls annually on the 11th day of the 11th month (since 1 is the loneliest number). It is like St Valentine’s Day, only worse. Singletons shower each other with tender gifts: a barrage of pearls; a storm of sweets. 几年前，一些学生把每年的11月11日定为单身者的节日——“光棍节”【注3】（因为“1”是最为“孤独”的数字）。随后，数字营销者抓住了这个商业机 遇。光棍节和情人节有些类似，只不过没有情人节那么美好。在这一天，单身人士会彼此交换很多贴心的礼物：比如大包的珠宝首饰、大把的糖果。 | 
