BEIJING, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese online payment clearinghouse NetsUnion and card payment giant China UnionPay reported robust growth in online payments during the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, central bank data showed Thursday.

During the eight-day holiday that concluded on Wednesday, online payments via the two platforms hit 13.26 trillion yuan (about 1.86 trillion U.S. dollars), up 1.86 trillion yuan from last year's holiday.

The two platforms handled nearly 41.6 billion transactions during this period, representing a rise of 9.5 billion transactions from the previous National Day holiday, according to the central bank. ■