If 1 is the loneliest number, singles can feel six times as forlorn today_其他

If 1 is the loneliest number, singles can feel six times as forlorn today

Today, 2011-11-11 as many Chinese notate the date, bachelors in China have two more reasons to celebrate or bemoan their fate - or, rather, two more sticks.

To find out why, you'd have to know the story of Guanggun Festival. Guanggun, in Chinese, refers to an adult single, usually male and often reluctantly unattached.

Literally, it means a stick that is unvarnished or does not have any covering. As the Arabic numeral 1, looks like an erect stick, it has come to symbolize this status of unwilling celibacy.

Nov 11, written in numerals as is the Chinese norm, offers four consecutive 1s, and, therefore, has evolved over a decade to become an occasion for grassroots celebration. This year, it is preceded by two extra 1s in the year 2011, as the Chinese order for dates lists year first, and then the month and the day.

If the government recognized this day as a holiday, rest assured there would be six giant poles sticking out of Tian'anmen Square.

For those of you with Freudian flights of fancy, you have guessed right: Guanggun does contain a not-so-subtle phallic connotation, as with many folksy terms of this nature.

However, few are aware of this etymological naughtiness, which has been washed out from overuse. Even the most hidebound would not hesitate using the word in their daily conversation.

But you may not hear it on television news.

Guanggun is self-deprecating in tone. And the Guanggun Festival is marked by those who call attention to their eligibility and yet are not proud of it.