Tmall, Alibaba's B2C online store, sent a satellite into the Earth's orbit on Friday.
It's rare for private Chinese companies to build satellites and Tmall's new machine is unique in another way too: It's a love confession broadcaster.
The satellite was designed for Alibaba's Singles' Day shopping fest which takes place annually on November 11, but it only launched in early December.
In early November, the company collected 1,111 recordings of love confessions from its single users and has now sent them into space.
Various recordings have been sent to space and their topics range from casual conversations to marriage proposals. Some foreign diplomats sent their blessings for a peaceful world, a Tanzanian called for the protection of nature, and a teacher from a remote village in China expressed his hope for a future where he will no longer be isolated from the outside world.
The satellite will then orbit the Earth, passing through China twice a day. You can listen to them if you open the Tmall app while the satellite is overhead and also grab the "red envelopes" by Alibaba.
The Taobao app says it's currently not the right time to hear the love confessions. /Screenshot from Taobao
All earnings from selling the right to broadcast these messages in space have been donated to a philanthropic project for orphan care in China.
The satellite is a "bold and innovative experiment," said Gu Baihui, who is in charge of this project. It also marks the beginning of the cooperation between the developer COMMSAT and Alibaba, who are expected to have further collaboration in the field of Internet of Things (IoT).
Along with the love confession satellite, two Saudi satellites were also launched by the same Long March-2D rocket Friday, and in November, Tmall launched another satellite, named "Candy Jar".