A decade ago, November 11th was a tongue-in-cheek cultural “celebration” of single people in China. In 2009, retailer Alibaba turned the day into the country’s version of Black Friday — and eight years later, sales from the Chinese e-commerce’s one-day event has nearly doubled those from Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the US combined.

十年前，11月11日，在中国大家还是戏谑是单身狗庆祝的节日。在2009年阿里巴巴公司把这天变成了中国的“黑色星期五”，八年后这个中国电商在这天的收入是美国“黑色星期五”和“剁手星期一”收入总和的近两倍。

Alibaba hit a record $18 billion in just 13 hours.

阿里巴巴创下13个小时180亿美元的新高。

Alibaba reported that sales from Single' Day amounted to $25.3 billion, a 40 percent jump from last year's figures. (The number did not take into account some sales that began earlier in the week in honor of the event.) Additionally, the retailer hit a record $18 billion in just 13 hours on Saturday, eclipsing last year's record of $17.8 billion in 24 hours.

据报道，阿里巴巴双11单天的营业额是253亿美元，同比去年增长高达40%（这一数字还不包括双11前一周为庆祝该活动而进行的促销活动）。此外13个小时180亿美元让去年24小时178亿美元的战绩黯然失色。

Market research experts say the massive growth is attributed to retailers competing for a share of consumer spending in China's growing economy. In comparison, US sales between Thanksgiving until Cyber Monday accounted for $12.8 billion in 2016.

市场研究专家认为，此次的大幅增长，说明了众多零售商想要在形势一片大好的消费者市场上分一杯羹。与其形成鲜明对比的是，2016年美国市场从感恩节到“剁手星期一”的销售总额才128亿美元。

Just like US versions of the shopping holidays, Alibaba offered discounts on a variety of goods, from household items to electronic gadgets to clothing to beauty supplies.

和美国的消费大节类似，阿里巴巴上的很多产品都有折扣，从家用消费品到小家电，服装到美妆。

Revenue also came in the form of “virtual shopping cart space,” where customers can pay for expanded cart capacity. The Sixth Tone reports that Chinese retailers traditionally put a limit on how many items you can put in your online shopping cart to help “ease operations,” encouraging buyers to put in one purchase order rather than multiple transactions that require more processing.

虚拟的购物车也能创收呢，顾客可以付费让购物车装下更多地东西。根据Sixth Tone的报道，中国电商通常会给虚拟购物车设一个上线，最多可以放几样东西，让消费者方便管理，鼓励按照购买的顺序来，而不是一下子同时进行几个让交易的流程变长。

In honor of the event, Alibaba founder Jack Ma held a gala to celebrate its kickoff, with celebrities like Pharrell, Nicole Kidman, Jessie J, and Maria Sharapova in attendance. It was televised on both Alibaba’s video service and on three Chinese TV networks.

为了庆祝该盛事，阿里巴巴的创始人马云，邀请了一众明星开幕，像法瑞尔·威廉姆斯，妮可基德曼，婕西和玛利亚·莎拉波娃都在邀请出席之列。开幕式在阿里巴巴的视频服务和三家中国网络电视上播出。

（翻译：林浔鸥）