For China, it was President Xi Jinping's first year as leader – and the introduction of a far-reaching crackdown on corruption in his party. But for readers of SCMP.com, it was the more unusual stories that proved most popular. Here, we look at the top 10 most viewed stories of 2013.
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights
Some of the most-read stories of 2013 were about Chinese tourists and their increasingly bad reputation around the world. Amy Li's piece exploring the reasons behind all the bad press received 236,294 page views, 5,000 Facebook likes and 477 tweets.
Chinese official offered huge reward... if he can swim in polluted river
Chinese officials were never more in the spotlight than in 2013, the year new president Xi Jinping launched a major graft crackdown. Chris Luo's story about a Zhejiang entrepreneur who offered a senior official 200,000 yuan to swim in a polluted river for 20 minutes was the second most popular China story. It was viewed 219,036 times, received 1,000 Facebook likes and was tweeted 212 times.
Rat meat sold as lamb in Shanghai, police say
China's food scandals provided more grim reading in 2013 – and this story about rat meat being sold as lamb in Shanghai proved a must-read for visitors to the site. It was viewed 160,502 times, liked 3,300 times on Facebook and tweeted 330 times.
Chinese scientists upbeat on development of invisibility cloak
It wasn't all bad news for China this year as science took centre stage with the moon rover landing and this, the news that scientists were confident they would be first in developing an invisibility cloak. Viewed 151,154 times, the article received 1,300 Facebook likes and was tweeted 253 times.
