Debutante Mao, 20, coolly drove home a volley from outside the penalty area to score his first international goal in the 27th minute.

"I was certainly determined to score and was very happy to," Mao told Chinese media portal Sina.com.

"Scoring goals is after all a striker's duty."

Shenhua team-mate Sun was not to be upstaged, sending a 30-metre free-kick curling around the Palestinian wall and into the bottom right corner of the net in the 75th minute.

The disciplined display was a relief for coach Zhu Guanghu, pilloried by Chinese media and fans after two lacklustre performances in the previous two qualifiers against Singapore.

"We are very happy to be able to qualify ahead of time," Zhu said.

"The players gave a lot of themselves especially the younger ones who played particularly well."

China, runners-up to Japan in the 2004 Asian Cup, share the lead in Group E on ten points with Iraq, who they meet in Changsha in their final qualifier on Nov. 15.

The Asian Cup finals will be co-hosted by Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam from July 7-29 next year.