Last year, Chinese searchers focused on three banks, along with the word "stocks," over searches for adult entertainment queries.
While government-controlled media praised the values and industriousness of their citizens, the widely publicized crackdowns on adult entertainment coupled with common knowledge of government monitoring of surfer's online activities no doubt played a role in these statistics.
Decrying the fact that the word "sex" is the most popular search term in other countries for search giant Google, the China Daily claimed that "On the Chinese mainland, it was money and technology that took the honors last year."
According to Google, China Merchants Bank was the second most searched phrase, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ranked third, "stocks" fourth and China Construction Bank, sixth overall.
The most common search term in China was "QQ," an automotive brand and the name of a popular instant messaging service.
A listing of the "Most Popular Departments" ranked China's Central Bank first, the Ministry of Finance third and the Banking Regulatory Commission fifth.
"What is a blue chip?" and "How to invest in the stock market" were also among the most popular Chinese queries.
