Taobao's hardcore fans support company's growth

Friends and family find it strange that Wang Yami, an IT office worker, thinks of March 23, 2008, as a life-changing date.

The date is neither the day of her wedding, nor does it mark any other special achievement.

But Wang insists that the date is special because that's when she registered an account on Taobao.com, China's biggest -09876website.

"I always tell my friends: I work to make money, and the money is to buy things on Taobao," Wang said. "Taobao is like a man for whom I have bitter-sweet feelings."

A few months ago, Wang, who previously lived in Beijing, changed jobs and moved to the eastern city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

She bought almost everything for her new place on Taobao. Items as small as light bulbs or pepper dispensers and as heavy as furniture were delivered from the online stores on the website.

Wang, who has more than 70,000 followers on her Sina micro blog, joked that she even bought some of her fans on Taobao.

Wang's Taobao addiction is quite common in China. Taobao itself calls the group the "hands-chopping people".

That's because those customers are extremely passionate about shopping online. But sometimes, they regret the money spent and say that they will chop off their hands if they buy items online again.

In a report released on Wednesday, Taobao said that the number of the so-called "hands-chopping people", or hardcore customers, has reached 1.08 million out of its 500 million registered customers.