Many of this year's searches reflected Hong Kong’s easing of pandemic restrictions (Photo: Getty Images)
Cover Many of this year's searches reflected Hong Kong’s easing of pandemic restrictions (Photo: Getty Images)

From iPhone 14 and compulsory testing to John Lee and Shinzo Abe, here are the things Hongkongers cared the most about this past year

Google Hong Kong revealed on December 7 its Year in Search 2022 report, the annual account of what has been most searched for on Google over the past year. For Hongkongers, Google remained their source for staying on top of the news and topics that mattered most to them, and the 2022 top search terms reflected that.

The city was taken over by the Covid-19 fifth wave in the first quarter of the year, which influenced the decisions about pandemic measures for the rest of the year. Appropriately, the top two trending keywords were “vaccination appointment” and “compulsory testing”, followed by “iPhone 14”, “Ukraine” and “Shinzo Abe”.

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Hong Kong’s top trending news of 2022, however, saw a mirror image of the trending keywords, with “Ukraine” and “Shinzo Abe” in first and second place respectively, followed by “pandemic in Hong Kong”. Speaking of mirror images, “Mirror concert” followed right behind in fourth place on the top trending news list, and “vaccine pass” wrapped up the top five.

For the city’s top trending people, Hong Kong’s new chief executive John Lee Ka Chiu led the charge, followed by Olympic darling Eileen Gu, former Japanese competitive figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu, ex-US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, and local politician Witman Hung Wai Man.

With relaxed pandemic regulations came the slow return of entertainment, and this was reflected in the top trending keywords, too. For example, Google’s Hong Kong 2022 top trending celebrities saw retired actor Wilson Lam take the lead (perhaps due to his daughter Denice Lam being crowned Miss Hong Kong 2022) followed by Hing Cheung King Hin and Terence Lam Ka Him in second and third places respectively, both of whom held concerts this year. Meanwhile, top trending movies saw The Sparring Partner, Warriors of Future and Top Fun: Maverick take the top three spots.

This year also saw the revival of travel and events. Japan was a hit for Hong Kong travellers, it seems, with Kyoto, Fukuoka and Tokyo topping the list of top trending hotspots. Locally, the Hong Kong Book Fair and Terrence Lam and Hins Cheung’s concerts led the charge in top trending local hotspots.

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