TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- Google today released its Year in Search for 2017, including the results for Taiwan, which revealed that sporting events, TV dramas, games, gadgets, gossip, and shopping were on the minds of Taiwanese netizens this year.
The most searched word of the year was Universiade, which refers to Taipei's 2017 Summer Universiade, the largest international sporting event ever held in Taiwan. Despite a widely condemned disruption of the opening ceremonies by protesters, the rest of the event was a success for the country with Taiwan raking in a record number of 90 medals, including 26 gold.
Last year's top search term, Pokemon, only slid one spot to second place this year, indicating the mobile game still has many addicted fans in Taiwan since it landed in the country on Aug. 6, 2016.
In third place was "Teenage Psychic" (通靈少女), HBO Asia's first Mandarin Original series and the first to be shot on location in Taiwan, which received positive ratings and reviews not only in Taiwan but in throughout Asia.
In the fourth and eight spots were the South Korean dramas "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God," starring heartthrob Gong Yoo, and "Strong Woman Do Bong-soon," starring Park Bo-young.
Taiwanese are passionate about baseball, and despite a miserable performance at World Baseball Classic (WBC) held in Seoul, South Korea, where the national team could not manage a single win and finished in 14th place out of 16 participating countries, it was still the fifth most popular term.
The sixth spot was taken by Taiwanese dark comedy "A Boy Named Flora," which is about a 28-year-old slacker who reexamines his life as he interacts with his dysfunctional family during a return trip to his home town to visit a dying grandmother who will not pass on.
Like many other countries in the world, there was much excitement in Taiwan when the iPhone 8 launched on Sept. 22.
The only celebrity who made the list in ninth place was 35-year-old Taiwanese singer and actress Cyndi Wang, after intimate photos of her with her ex-boyfriend surfaced.
In tenth place was the online shopping platform Shopee, which has made major inroads against its competitors this year, with 10 million app downloads and 8 million orders, according to EC Insider. A major part of its strategy to grab market share with zero commission fees, zero payment gateway fees, and subsidized shopping. It also partners with FamilyMart and 7-Eleven where purchases can be shipped to for free with purchases over NT$99 (US$3.3).
Top 10 Searches in 2017
- Universiade
- Pokemon
- The Teenage Psychic
- Guardian: The Lonely and Great God
- World Baseball Classic
- A Boy Named Flora
- iPhone 8
- Strong Woman Do Bong-soon
- Cyndi Wang
- Shopee