As we usher in the Year of the Monkey, The Wall Street Journal looks back at some of the food that fueled our articles on everything from China’s vastly changing economic landscape, tense political climate, educational overhaul and uprooted factories to its cyber espionage, pollution problems, sluggish real estate sector and its rising film market.

Stories on the cracks that emerged from the country’s breakneck growth, the rise of Chinese technology firms, the surprising strength of the Chinese consumer market, the upheaval...