"Sex" was the keyword most frequently searched by Internet users on Google in Egypt, India and Turkey , the search engine giant said a couple of months ago.
But on the Chinese mainland, it was money and technology that took the honors last year, according to a list released by Google China on Tuesday.
Four of the top six were wealth-related: Three banks and "stock".
China Merchants Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank, ranked second, third and sixth, all having listed in 2006 and proving a big draw for investors.
Fourth on the list was "stock", not surprising with Shanghai shares having risen 97 percent last year after doubling the previous year. At number 1 was "QQ", a Chinese instant message service and a brand of car.
The others were: "game" (5th), "Google Earth" (7th), download tool "Thunder" (8th), the anti-virus software "Kaspersky" (9th), and "MSN" (10th).
But when it comes to Chinese, food can't be far behind.
The most googled dish was sweet-and-sour ribs, followed by fish-flavored shredded pork, home-style braised pork and braised eggplant.
And for unexplained reasons, the most googled English word was "wire mesh", followed by "crystal", "china", "mushroom" and "ballast".
Among entertainment stars, Taiwan R&B star Jay Chou was No 1 followed by Chen Chusheng, the champion of the television contest Happy Boy last year.
In another list of "seeking knowledge", "what is a blue chip" and "how to invest in the stock market" were the most searched questions on Google in China, while "what is love" and "how to kiss" ranked top of the global list.
