Wei Shihao and Wu Lei both scored twice as Shanghai SIPG handed Beijing Guoan a 5-1 thrashing on Saturday evening to remain in touch with Guangzhou Evergrande at the top of the Chinese Super League standings.
The win was the 200th of Andre Villas-Boas' coaching career, but the Portuguese was forced to watch from the stands after being sent off during his side's 3-1 win over Shanghai Shenhua in the Shanghai derby last week.
SIPG fielded a strong lineup despite having to play the second leg of their Asian Champions League round-of-16 clash with Jiangsu Suning on Wednesday, and Wei Shihao gave his side the lead in the 26th minute before claiming his second seven minutes into the second half.
From there the floodgates opened as Hulk scored his team's third before two goals in the final 16 minutes from Wu Lei gave SIPG the three points despite Burak Yilmaz's 90th-minute consolation.
"Congratulations to Andre Villas-Boas, this is the 200th victory in his career," SIPG assistant coach Daniel Sousa said. "We should have had more opportunities and the scoreline could have been even higher. The players had an outstanding performance.
"We didn't communicate with Andre during the match. We had fully prepared for all possible outcomes and the players understood well and executed well.
"We had been considering substituting Wei Shihao, but he was so good and he repaid our trust with goals, so we changed our minds and didn't change him."
Ezequiel Lavezzi scored the opener as Manuel Pellegrini's Hebei CFFC picked up their fourth win in five games to remain in third thanks to a 94th-minute winner from Zhang Chengdong after Tan Long had equalised for Changchun Yatai.
"This was a very nervous game, both teams played well," Pellegrini said. "We knew before the game that our opponent would be tough and their record on the road is very good.
"We were confident we could score and although the way we won is not what I want to see, today's victory is very good for morale."
Tianjin Quanjian, meanwhile, defeated cross-city rivals Tianjin Teda 3-0 with Zheng Dalun scoring twice before Alexandre Pato found the net for Fabio Cannavaro's team.
Gregorio Manzano continued his unbeaten start to life at Guizhou Zhicheng with a 2-2 draw against Jiangsu Suning that moved Choi Yong-soo's side off the bottom of the standings while Liaoning Whowin moved up to eighth with a 3-1 win over Yanbian Funde.