Day when sad singles try to climb down from the shelf

Editor's note: November 11 is Singles' Day in China, but what was originally a celebration of unmarried life has become a time of despair for people who are desperate to find love.

Until this time last year, Su Yunmin met twice a month with three friends she's known since kindergarten, just like the four characters in the popular US television series Mistresses.

Now, though, the frequency of their gatherings has fallen to once every other month because Su, an assistant manager at a real estate company in Changchun, Jilin province, has told her friends that she's extremely busy at work.