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Ghostly searches top list on Yahoo-Kimo Web site

Since the beginning of the seventh lunar month, better known as Ghost Month, searches related to Ghost Month taboos have topped Yahoo-Kimo Taiwan’s search engine statistics.

In the Web site’s latest keyword rankings, the phrase “10 major Ghost Month taboos” in Chinese ranked second most popular, with many users looking for information about the most frightening month of the year.

The site’s statistics for between July 28 and Aug. 3 showed that the most common key words were “Ghost Month,” “ghost taboos, “ “giving birth during Ghost Month,” “hotel packages during Ghost Month,” “history of Ghost Month,” “religious ceremonies during Ghost Month,” “moving house during Ghost Month,” “buying cars during Ghost Month” and “songs banned during Ghost Month,” in that order.

Ghost Month-related items on the “knowledge +” page of the search engine have risen to 3,576 items, the statistics showed.

Users were most interested in the beliefs that bad things may happen to people who give birth, renovate their homes, take trips, go swimming, buy real estate or get a haircut during the month.

Ghost Month began on Aug. 1. According to tradition, it is a period when the gates of the underworld open, allowing ghosts to enter the world of mortals.

In related news, tourism officials from Matsu Island said tourism had declined since the start of Ghost Month.

Officials at the Matsu National Scenic Area Administration attributed the drop in tourism to the Ghost Month taboo against traveling.

Group tours have decreased, while the number of individual travelers has not dropped, officials said. Most tourists visiting the outlying island are backpackers.

During the first half of this year, Matsu received 33,000 visitors, up by around 3,000 visits from the same period last year.
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