A year in searches: Here’s what Hong Kong googled most in 2020

What was Hong Kong obsessed with in 2020? As usual, Google has all the answers.

According to the search engine’s annual “Year in Search” data released on Wednesday, COVID-19, US elections and the late tycoon Stanley Ho were among the most googled terms in Hong Kong in the past 12 months. The full list can be seen here.

Specifically, US elections topped the lists for both the “top keywords” and “top international headlines” categories. Keen interest in American political developments reflected the city’s heated debate in how the vote outcome might affect the Hong Kong protest movement.

Politics did not feature as prominently in the “top local headlines” category as last year, when the top searches were overwhelmingly related to the protest movement. Instead, this year’s top four searches—COVID-19, masks, social distancing restrictions and confirmed (as in virus cases)—were all related to the epidemic.

HKTV mall was the second most-searched on the “top keywords” list after US elections, a testament of the online shopping boom that took hold as people stayed home to shelter from the virus.

Politics-related searches found their spots further down in the “top local headlines” category. BNO (British National Overseas), the passport that Hongkongers rushed to renew after Beijing passed a sweeping national security law in the city, was the fourth-most search term. The national security law itself was the fifth-most searched.

Slightly further down in tenth place was a surprise contender, ParkNShop’s lucky draw. The supermarket chain held a lucky draw in October to give away cash vouchers and 10 “one-minute free shopping sprees,” a winning that sounds as coveted as it does stressful.

For the “top local public figures” category, Stanley Ho, the late Macau casino tycoon who passed away in May, was the most searched. In third and fourth place respectively was Chief Executive Carrie Lam and top microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung, whose staid, bespectacled demeanor and neutral-toned blazers have become icons of the city’s fight against the virus.

Andy Li, one of the 12 Hongkongers who have been detained in Shenzhen since late August, was ranked sixth. “Yellow” political commentators Stephen Shiu and Elmer Yuen also made the list.

Hottest keywords:

• • US election
  • HKTVmall
  • Hong Kong Observatory
  • COVID-19
  • Mask
  • Zoom
  • Joy of Life (慶餘年) [Mainland Chinese TV show]
  • Forensic Pioneer IV (法證先鋒 4) [Local TV show]
  • The World of the Married (夫妻的世界) ([Korean TV show]
  • ParknShop

Hottest local headlines:

1. COVID-19
2. Mask
3. Social distancing restrictions
4. Confirmed
5. BNO
6. National security law
7. Universal testing
8. ParknShop lucky draw
9. Home Ownership Scheme 2020
10. Employment Support Scheme

Hottest international headlines:

1. US elections
2. COVID-19
3. Taiwan elections
4. Australian wildfires
5. Lebanon
6. TikTok
7. Room N
8. Three Gorges Dam
9. Italy
10. Belarus

Hottest local figures:

1. Stanley Ho (何鴻燊)
2. Stephen Shiu (蕭若元)
3. Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥)
4. Yuen Kwok-yung (袁國勇)
5. Winnie Yu (余慧明)
6. Andy Li (李宇軒)
7. Kwai Ping-hung (季炳雄)
8. Elmer Yuen (袁弓夷)
9. Miss Pun (搣時潘)
10. Nathan Law (羅冠聰)