中國光棍節大商機
摘錄自：天下雜誌 經濟學人電子報 2013/11/22
2013-11-15 Web only 作者：經濟學人
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| 圖片來源：劉國泰 |
1是個孤單的數字，11月11日則是最孤單的日子；在中國，這天就是所謂的「光棍節」。中國的男生比女性多了3,400萬人，也大多難以獲得眾人認定足以吸引伴侶的收入；因此，這些孤單的靈魂擁有非常多同伴。
最近幾年，光棍節大致成了線上購物節。零售商注意到單身人口的規模（以及他們不必照顧家庭，因此擁有相對強的購買力），在每年11月10日午夜開始提供折扣，也吸引了大量消費者──不管他們是不是單身。根據中國國家媒體報導，今年11月11日的前55秒，網路上就賣出了總額達1億人民幣的折扣商品，銷售額在6分7秒時達10億人民幣，頭一小時即達67億人民幣。
阿里巴巴公佈的數據顯示，最熱門的商品為小米機，銷售額超過5.5億人民幣。內衣也十分受歡迎，中午之前就賣出了160萬件。光棍節當日，消費療法的支出總額預估達350億人民幣。
除了線上銷售熱潮、約會網站垃圾簡訊大增之外，還有專為單身者舉辦的約會活動。在一間北京的俱樂部裡，就有150位單身者以身份證登記，參與快速約會活動；活動內容包括「500秒遊戲」，也就是男性繞著一圈坐在座位上的女性，隨機停下來，與對面的人交談8分鐘。這間俱樂部成立於2003年，雖然也有三、四十歲的會員，但主要目標放在25～29歲的年輕專業人士。活動主辦單位表示，這類單身組織和網站之所以存在，「並不是因為熱門，而是因為有必要」，以滿足擁有高收入、但無暇在交友圈外尋找伴侶的單身者的「市場需求」。
這類聚會的公開目標，並不只是約會，而是結婚。首要、也最重要的交換資訊，即為年齡、身高、背景和工作。這符合中國的約會文化，亦即男性必須先有房子和車子，才能擁有妻子。中國大城市的「結婚市場」中，通常是由單身男性的家長提供相關資訊，給尋找丈夫的單身女性的家長。約會網站和作媒公司十分普遍，此外，還有一些尋找女朋友、又不必承受遭拒風險的怪方式──例如，有些單身男性會在地鐵車廂裡，偷偷地將寫有電話的便利貼貼到女性背後。
然而，並不是所有人都對結婚市場有興趣。年輕的都會世代、特別是在1990年後出生的人，比較喜歡更自由的約會型式。在他們之間，使用微信尋找伴侶越來越熱門；微信的地理位置功能可以列出附近有哪些人，並以性別排序，還附有個人資料照片。無牽無掛一身輕。（黃維德譯）
©The Economist Newspaper Limited 2013
The Economist
Bare branches
Millions shop
for a spouse...and much more
By The Economist
From The Economist
Published: November 15, 2013
Doing whatever it takes to find a mate.
ONE is the loneliest number, and 11/11 the loneliest date. November
11th was Singles’ Day in China, known as "Double Eleven" or
"Bare Branches" day—a Chinese term for bachelors. In a country where
males outnumber females by 34m and often struggle to achieve the kind of income
deemed necessary to attract a partner, those single souls have plenty of company.
In recent years, Singles’ Day has become largely an online shopping
festival. Aware of the size of the single population (and of its relative
spending power, in the absence of families to support), from midnight each
November 10th retailers offer discounts that attract huge numbers of
consumers—single or not. This year according to state media, within the first
55 seconds 100m yuan ($16m) worth of discounted goods were sold online, with a
billion yuan spent within 6 minutes and 7 seconds, and 6.7 billion yuan in the
first hour.
Figures released by Alibaba, a large Chinese e-commerce retailer, say
the most popular product was the Xiaomi brand of mobile phone, with over 550m
yuan worth whisked off the virtual shelves. Underwear is always another popular
choice, and this year 1.6 million bras sold before noon. When the tills closed,
the estimated value of the day’s retail therapy totalled 35 billion yuan.
Besides online sales mania, and a bump in spam text messages from
dating websites, there were also singles’ events for those using the occasion
to try to find a date. At one singles’ club in Beijing, the Happiness Culture
Member’s Club ("The Home of Single Friends"), 150 singles registered
with their identity cards for a speed dating event. The evening included the
"500-second game," in which the gents circled a ring of seated ladies
and stopped at random, in the style of musical chairs, to have an eight-minute
conversation with the person opposite. A simpler variant had both sexes take
opposite ends of a bundle of entangled strings, then unravel them through much
contortion—no letting go allowed—to discover who the next eight-minute date
would be.
The club, one of three in a chain established in Beijing in 2003,
targets young professionals in their mid- to late-twenties, though there are
also members in their thirties and forties. The organiser of the event, Liu
Lei, said such singles’ organisations and websites existed "not because
it’s popular, but because it’s necessary," talking of a "market
need" for singles with good incomes but no time to look beyond their
immediate circle for potential spouses.
The open goal of such get-togethers is marriage, not just a dinner
date. The first and most salient information to be exchanged concerns age,
height, background and job. That holds true for the broader dating culture in
mainland China, where the pressure is on men first to own an apartment and a
car before they can find a wife. At "marriage markets" in China’s
bigger cities, it is often a bachelor’s parents who present the relevant
details to those parents shopping for a husband for their daughter. Dating
websites and matchmaking companies are widespread, alongside odder methods for
finding a girlfriend without risking rejection—such as the occasional habit of
some single men stealthily to attach sticky paper with their telephone numbers
to women’s backs in subway carriages.
Yet not everyone buys into the marriage market. Urban younger
generations, especially those born after 1990, have embraced a freer style of
dating. For them, an increasingly popular way to pick up a companion is a smart
phone app called WeChat, with its geo-location functions that show who is
nearby, sorted by sex and accompanied by profile pictures. No strings attached.
©The Economist Newspaper Limited 2013
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