HANGZHOU — China's Singles Day sales on Tmall hit 268.4 billion yuan (about $38.3 billion) on Nov 11.

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 Singles 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 Singles Day sales reached 213.5 billion yuan last year.