A giant screen displays sales on Alibaba's online marketplace Tmall for Singles' Day shopping spree in Shanghai, east China, Nov. 11, 2018. China's Singles' Day sales on TMall hit 10 billion yuan (about 1.44 billion U.S. dollars) at just two minutes and five seconds after midnight on Sunday. The e-commerce giant launched the annual online shopping promotion on Nov. 11, 2009. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)

SHANGHAI, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- China's Singles' Day sales on TMall hit 10 billion yuan (about 1.44 billion U.S. dollars) at just two minutes and five seconds after midnight on Sunday.

According to Alibaba, owner of TMall, more than 19,000 overseas brands from 75 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 168.2 billion yuan last year.