Expats expected to join the rush in hunt for bargains

If you are an expat living in China, you will probably have already been bombarded with messages about the most important online shopping festival of the year - Singles' Day.

The non-official festival, which marks the day when young people in China either celebrate or lament their single status, has now become the country's largest online bargain blowout.

"I think foreigners perceive it as a kind of Black Friday or Boxing Day (the day after Christmas, which is a traditional discount shopping time)," Luigi Di Gennaro, a Canadian professor teaching at the Guilin University of Electronic Technology, said.