Marko Arnautovic headed home on his Chinese Super League debut on Sunday as defending champions Shanghai SIPG were held to a 2-2 draw by Chongqing Lifan on a day when Beijing Guoan finally relinquished top spot.
Arnautovic, who joined SIPG from West Ham earlier in the month, came off the bench to give Shanghai a 2-1 lead in the 63rd minute, only for Alan Kardec to equalise nine minutes later.
That meant Vitor Pereira's Shanghai missed the opportunity to join Guangzhou Evergrande at the summit after Beijing Guoan, who had been top since the fourth round of matches, were beaten 1-0 by Jiangsu Suning.
Beijing led the standings by two points going into this week's 19th round, but Eder's successful 38th minute penalty for Jiangsu condemned Roger Schmidt's side to a third defeat of the season.
As a result, seven-time champions Guangzhou Evergrande ended the weekend one point ahead of Beijing, having handed cross-city rivals Guangzhou R&F a 5-0 thrashing on Saturday, with new Brazilian signing Elkeson claiming a hat-trick.
That win saw Fabio Cannavaro's side extend their winning run in the league to 10 straight games and put themselves in pole position for the first time this season.
