Without doubt, 2013 was a big year for the South China Morning Post as we celebrated our 110th anniversary by honouring the heroes of Hong Kong.

It was also the year we brought readers our exclusive interviews with fugitive whistle-blower Edward Snowden, who fled to Hong Kong having leaked top secret files revealing the shocking extent to which America was spying on not only its own people but everyone else around the world. It was the year a devastating earthquake struck Sichuan in China; and territorial tensions between China and Japan increased significantly. And the year that China's new president, Xi Jinping, launched a far-reaching crackdown on corruption among officials in the Communist Party.

But it wasn't all doom and gloom, and in that vein, SCMP.com's Charley Lanyon presents a tongue-in-cheek look back at the big stories of the year.