Ireland has been chosen as the "most popular destination 2012" by a Shanghai newspaper.
The Oriental Morning Post award is voted on by the newspaper’s readers and by travel specialists.
Ireland was also chosen as the "most charming destination 2012" by Beijing publication Life Style.
Tourism Ireland, which markets Ireland abroad, has targeted China as a potential growth market.
Chief executive Niall Gibbons said: “I am confident that these awards will enhance the reputation of the island of Ireland and help to attract more Chinese visitors in 2013 and beyond.”
However, users of the travel website TripAdvisor were distinctly cool about the attractions of Dublin.
Of 40 key tourist cities in the world, Dublin only finished high in the rankings in terms of friendliest taxi drivers (5th) and best taxi services (4th).
It was 12th in terms of cleanest streets, 13th for safest city and 15th best for shopping.
But it only ranked 27th for value for money and 29th for being underrated.
The results were compiled based on more than 75,000 responses to a survey sent to those who recently wrote TripAdvisor reviews on the featured cities.
Though the readers of TripAdvisor may be divided on the merits of Dublin, Scotsman writer Martin Hannon predicted Dublin's New Year's Eve festival could be as big as Edinburgh's Hogmanay.
Hannon was one of the invited media for the New Year's Eve festival, now in its second year.
"We have a new competitor in our vicinity and Dublin doesn't do second best to anybody - it is a true European capital, more than twice the size of Edinburgh in terms of population and with a history that dates back even longer than ours," he said.
