Avoiding China has been a winning investment strategy. But it’s not easy.

Investors in emerging market stocks have benefited this year from their distance from China.

The MSCI China index is down 8% this year through Nov. 15, while a broader emerging markets benchmark that excludes China is up 8% over the same period. Chinese stocks have been weighed down by the country’s fragile economic reopening, a pushback from foreign money managers and the growing reluctance of the country’s small investors to buy stocks.