On November 11, also known as Singles’ Day, more than US$38 billion was spent in 24 hours on Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms alone — that’s more than Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Prime Day combined. 

But what really sets Singles’ Day apart from other shopping fests? Why are people shopping on a day that’s not even a holiday? And … is that Taylor Swift at Alibaba’s Singles’ Day gala?

Senior tech reporter Zen Soo and podcast producer Yang Yang spent the day where it all began: at Alibaba’s…