It's the time of year for awards and one of the most highly anticipated set of awards is Conde Nast Traveler's Gold List. A place on the list means prestige and publicity for recipients. In other words, it's a big deal. Last year we reported on The Opposite House and the Westin Beijing Chaoyang debuting on the list. The 2012 list just came out and there are some huge surprises on it.

Here's the big one: a hotel in Chongqing that was built in 2007, the Sofitel Forebase Chongqing, debuted on the list at number 14, not in China, in the world!

The other big surprise was not so much surprise as inevitability: the Ritz-Carlton Pudong scored a stunning 99.2 (out of 100) to debut on the Gold List at the number 1 slot--again we're talking in the world here, not just China.

Other China hotels on the 2012 Gold List (again, for the world):

Shangri-la Pudong at number 25

Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong and Peninsula Hong Kong tied at number 31

Ritz-Carlton Beijing Financial Street at Number 37

Raffles Beijing at number 64

And then to round of China's top 10 you have:

The Opposite House, Westin Bund center Shanghai and the Kowloon Shangri-la.

I'm still a bit stunned about the Sofitel going absolutely nuclear in such a short period of time. Granted, I've never stayed at this hotel, but not one person in the hospitality industry I've ever met in my five years of covering it has mentioned this as a top property in Chongqing, much less the world. I mean it is sitting nicely at Number 3 on TripAdvisor, but still. Anyway, if anyone has stayed there, tell us what we are missing!

As for the Ritz-Carlton Pudong crushing the competition in one sudden swoop: we're not surprised. The Ritz-Carlton brand is a juggernaut for luxury hotels and this property atop the International Financial Center is indeed nothing short of spectacular.

Again, take everything with a grain of salt. It's a reader-voted list after all. If you look over at TripAdvisor's list of Best China Hotels for 2011 (also reader generated), the results are wildly different. Hilton Beijing Wangfujing, Opposite House and the Park Plaza Wangfujing are the only ones found in both lists. Look for TripAdvisor's 2012 list sometime in January.