Tourism Ireland was heavily involved in a major Chinese documentary on Ireland that aired last night.
Glamorous Ireland, a 45-minute programme, was beamed to a global audience of Chinese people by CCTV 4.
It opened to the theme tune from Riverdance, but got better from there. Managing to leave aside most of the old stereotypes the programme showcased the best of Ireland's history, food, drink, learning culture and natural beauty.
The programme makers described Ireland as the "dream destination" and one of Europe's most popular places to live.
Trinity's Dr Brian Meeham tells film crew they cannot film Book of Kells for conservation reasons, which led them to describe it as 'confidential'
The crew spent seven days visiting Dublin, Wicklow, Cork and Clare.
Tourism Ireland said as a publicity exercise it was invaluable. Its CEO Niall Gibbons said: "Tourism Ireland aims to grow the number of Chinese visitors to the island of Ireland to 50,000 per year, by 2017.”
The organisation currently has offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu.
Scenes from President Michael D Higgins's inauguration at Dublin Castle featured
CCTV reporter is shown around Dublin Castle by Tourism Ireland guide, Xiao Meilin
Scenes from Dublin Castle were cut with footage from President Michael D Higgins's inauguration and the Chinese population learned about the strange Victorian customs castle guides abided by, such as hiding a lady's ankles during dancing.
Naturally the Guinness Storehouse featured.
Guinness has been enjoyed by the world's people for 250 years, China learned
In fact booze featured strongly, so that was at least one stereotype the crew managed to reinforce - though, in fairness the very informative programme otherwise avoided cliches.
From Guinness to whiskey at the Museum of Irish Whiskey
Five things we learned from Glamorous Ireland:
- We produce five billion litres of milk every year and 15% of the world's baby milk powder
- Putting your finger in a calf's mouth helps teach them how to suck
- A wheel of cheese weighs 32 kilos
- We built a fence around the Cliffs of Moher because so many tourists' windbreakers were filling up with wind and causing them to fly off into the sea
- The tuning keys on some Irish harps are made in China
What a nice way of putting it - our climate is warm and 'humid' apparently
The Chinese market is massively important to Ireland's meat industry, so a segment on the efforts farmers make to ensure the traceability of their stock will be warmly welcomed.
And, in a further boon for our farming sector, the programme team concluded we make very good cheese!
Chef Catherine Fulvio got the Chinese presenters to make scones - which, they concluded between themselves, have a lot of ingredients.
There was a hooley at Blarney Castle in Cork, which the presenters seemed to think was off the beaten track.
Of course, they kissed the Blarney stone, helped by 'holder of the stone' Dennis. "Cheers, God Bless and enjoy" he told them.
Then it was on to Cork city, which (apparently) much like Venice, is constructed on the water. They arrived just in time to see four Chinese students graduating from UCC.
Michael Murphy, President of UCC
To watch Glamorous Ireland yourself, visit the CCTV website and translate its content to English, before selecting it from the August 18th schedule.
