The Chinese appear to have dismally failed to grasp the primary use of Google, with searches on the word "sex" ranking way down the list of most-Googled terms in the country last year.

Leading the overall searches list was "QQ", apparently an "instant message service and a brand of car", according to Reuters. Next up was the China Merchants Bank, closely followed by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Fourth place went to "stock" (as in "and shares", etc).

What merited fifth spot is not noted, but we suspect it might have been "anti-corruption". In keeping with the locals' evident love of banking, China Construction Bank came sixth.

All of which left "sex" out in the cold with an unspecified placing, much to the delight of China Daily, which was quick to point out that it was the "most popular keyword for Google users in some other countries".

In further revelations, Google.cn said that "China's Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance and Banking Regulatory Commission ranked first, third and fifth in the 'Most Popular Departments' list", while "what is a blue chip" and "how to invest in the stock market" topped the "seeking knowledge" category.

And finally, "How to get bloggers' personal details from Yahoo!" was the firm winner in the "Most requested query by state security bureaux". ®

Bootnote

Oh, alright then, we made that last one up.

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