A LIST of the most talked-about topics on Chinese blogs in the first half of 2007 was released by 163.com’s new search engine, youdao.com.

Based on data from thousands of millions of blog entries, the list showed that Mother’s Day was the No.1 topic, beating Happy Boys, the most popular singing contest of 2007.

Among the top 10 topics, six were related to festivals. Mother’s Day was mentioned in 300,000 entries, three times the number for Happy Boys, which came in second.

Other TV shows, like “My Hero” and a casting competition for characters in the planned TV series “A Dream of Red Mansions,” were not as popular as expected.

At three to six on the list were April Fool’s Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Tomb-sweeping Day and Father’s Day.

The shooting rampage at Virginia Tech in the United States was the most discussed world news topic on the top 10 list, and the UEFA Champions League was the most popular sports event among Chinese bloggers.

Other popular topics were the rise in stamp duty on stock trading, the blue-green algae in Taihu Lake in East China’s Wuxi, the sudden death of Chen Xiaoxu, the actress famous for her role as Lin Daiyu in the hit TV series “A Dream of Red Mansions,” and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

(SD-Agencies)