Alibaba and the 20,000 believers

Hangzhou's golden calling card continues to inspire, draw crowds

As night fell about 6 o'clock and the streets of downtown Hangzhou filled with workers rushing off to enjoy their weekends, the dampener to proceedings was persistent light rain that made negotiating the traffic jams a little more perilous.

Twelve kilometers to the west the streets around Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's headquarters were all but deserted on this Sept 19 night, many of the company's 20,000 staff sitting or standing in front of a giant television screen inside waiting to witness the big moment.