In the past I hated flights that were not non-stop but recently I have started to enjoy flights that have a break and although the overall travel time is longer it doesn't seem so long if you can look forward to a stop in a few hours instead of 12-13hrs .
I would choose emirates of the two. Could you have a couple of days stopover in Dubai? That would really break up the journey.
Virgin in my estimation are becoming a second class airline, they used to be superb but now they have some of the most uncomfortable seats on any airline (unless you are travelling business class) poor food and cabin staff that spend their time socializing rather than looking after passengers.
Like a lot of airlines Emirates is not as good as it used to be but it is far superior to Virgin.

2 Years ago we used virgin to Hong Kong one of the worse long haul flying experiences of my life, no legroom, poor food and poor service.

We are travelling with Emirates for the first time next Feb when you say not as good as they used to be can you tell me in what way, we are travelling business class to Singapore and usually fly economy direct with BA or Singapore Airlines, I would be very interested in your comments

If you read write ups about Emirates they go on about the narrow seats- they are slightly narrower than other companines- singapore- malaysian apart from that i had no complaints about them. Dubai airport was chaotic when we arrived and then you had to go through security - 100s of people. It didn't take too long. Main complaint about tha airport is the lack of seating in the departure lounge and the departure gate area (yet again this took ages to get through), many people sitting on the floor but on the plus side there was a good selection of shops and duty fre was cheap. Huge airport.

Catfish check out http://www.airlinequality.com for writeups about Emirates flights.

Thanks for the information when they say Emirates have old style seats what does this mean, how far do they lay back, any advice would be helpful as we are not familiar with travelling business class or with Emirates.

It usually means cradle type seats not actual lie flat ones. You still get a lot of leg room with a foot rest that you can stretch your legs out and the seat goes back much further than in economy. Usually quite comfortable. I rarely sleep on flights but when I flew round the world in business I managed to sleep for a few hours in similar seats on a couple of the flights.

Finnair is starting more new direct flights to China during this month. Connections to e.g. Hong Kong are great from London and Manchester. The flights are fast and Finnair a good and comfortable airline. They will probably go out with knock-out fares to Asia during the next couple of weeks too.

As much as I love Emirates I wouldn't use them, as is a big detour.

Virgin are inconsistent, but no more than any other airline. My last couple of flights on them were brill. If you're going in the front cabin, i'd say Virgin everytime. Emirates is disappointing if you get the old Business Class layout (which you probably will!).

I've heard good things about Finnair - and a lot more sensible for the routing (apparently London - Helsinki - Hong Kong is a straight line, or so their advertising states!).

PS Can I just add, that YOU HAVE TO CATCH THE MAGLEV IN SHANGHAI - it's crazy! Amazing!. It's the magnetic train from the airport to town.