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    “It is one of the few bright spots in the Chinese economy,” says Zeng Ming. He is talking about e­commerce. Mr. Zeng, the chief strategy officer of 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.

      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.

       This November 11th they spent a surprising 19 billion yuan on Alibaba's online platforms—a fourfold increase from a year ago, and more than double what Americans spent online last Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving, when retailers urge Americans to shop online). About 100 million purchases were logged, accounting for 80% of the packages shipped that day. Couriers(快递员) were buried in parcels.

       So life is good for China's e­tailers, then? Not exactly. The number of digital marketers is increasing and online sales are booming. Consumers are enjoying lower prices, better service and more varieties. The problem? The pressure on profits in Chinese e­commerce is worse than that in America, reckons Elinor Leung of CLSA, a broker. “Almost no one makes money,” she says.

        The fiercest battles are being fought between online retailers and their bricks­and­mortar (传统的实体企业) rivals. Dangdang, a firm that resembles Amazon, and 360buy, another online retailer, have cut prices fiercely. Tencent, a cash­rich online giant known for its instant messaging software, is splashing out to win market share. 360buy has also just raised $ 400 million from investors to do the same. But it is unclear how much longer such firms can burn through capital.

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    Move over millennials(千禧一代), here comes Generation Z, today's youngest group.

    Born in 1995 or later, a lot of Gen Z-ers are entering into adulthood and will soon join the workforce. People of Generation Z have grown up with the internet. Policy makers, sociologists, as well as employers and marketers, are trying their best to understand these young people. So, how should we pin down the Gen Z-ers?

    Most people will agree that the single biggest difference between Gen Z and other generations is how connected they are. This is a group of people who were hooked up to social media as soon as they were born. A recent Guardian article says that the average teenager in the UK has at least 150 followers on Instagram and spends around half an hour a day on Snapchat, an image messaging app. “We are the first true digital natives,” Hannah Payne, an 18-year-old UCLA student and lifestyle blogger. “I can almost create a document, edit it, post a photo on Instagram and talk on the phone at the same time, all from the user-friendly interface(界面) of my iPhone.

    The Guardian also notes that young people in the UK are becoming more active in politics. Voting is just one way of making one's voice heard. Most of Generation Z are still too young to vote, says the Guardian. Instead of party politics, they focus more on single-topic issues such as feminism(男女平等)or climate change. And “much of the civil engagement and organizing they do takes place on social media rather than through traditional political structures,” according to the newspaper.