This Year in Asia: from Huawei to the Hong Kong protests, here are 2019’s best stories as picked by our journalists

Over the course of 2019, we have run a smorgasbord of stories from across the continent. Some are intimate looks at culture and society, and people who have made lives for themselves in places that on first glance might seem unusual. Others are broad in scope, taking in the way nations circle each other in the dance of geopolitical influence. Here are some of our favourites from the year, picked by our own journalists. We hope you enjoy them as much as we have.

TOM STURROCK, PRODUCTION EDITOR

It’s also an excellent feature opening. Those first lines of a piece often overload the reader with information as we try to lay the table as efficiently and informatively as possible. Crystal’s opening, though, is simple, intriguing and evocative all at once, like the final line of a haiku. It made me happy upon reading it.

I also like the fact this story is so people-focused, which is something journalists sometimes lose sight of amid the politics. These are engaging human stories that shed light on something genuinely surprising while telling the parallel tales of the early Alaskeros and how they made their way. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve brought up this story as a talking point in a bar/restaurant and pretended it’s something I alone know about. And that, of course, is the mark of a good story: you want to pass it off as your own.

HARI RAJ, DEPUTY CHIEF PRODUCTION EDITOR