China's Single's Day sales hit 10 bln yuan in 96 seconds

HANGZHOU, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- China's Singles' Day sales on TMall hit 10 billion yuan (about 1.44 billion U.S. dollars) at just one minute and 36 seconds after midnight on Monday.

According to Alibaba, owner of TMall, more than 22,000 overseas brands from 200 countries and regions have participated in this year's shopping spree in China.

The e-commerce giant launched the annual online shopping promotion on Nov. 11, 2009, a day celebrated by many Chinese young people as Single's Day. The date was chosen because 11-11 resembles four "bare sticks," a Chinese term for bachelor.

Sales of Tmall's first shopping festival totaled about 52 million yuan. Alibaba's Single's Day sales reached 213.5 billion yuan last year.