The Chinese love their minerals. In fact their love of minerals saved Australia from falling down the deep, dark hole of recession amidst the Global Financial Crisis.

The Chinese also love winning. The billions of dollars they have invested into sport over the past decade is now paying dividends with success at the highest level - the Olympic Games.

However, their desire to win at all costs, literally, saw them fall down their own deep, dark hole just 12 months ago when a massive match-fixing scandal broke out in the Chinese Super League.

The scandal saw two clubs relegated from the CSL to Division 1 and a number of key officials and referees given their marching orders, which included then Chinese Football Association (CFA) Chairman Nan Yong.

The two clubs to suffer the humiliation of being relegated were Chengdu Blades and Guangzhou FC.

Both clubs now get their chance at redemption after being promoted back to the CSL for this coming season.

In the case of Guangzhou they have undergone a massive transformation in the 12 months since their forced relegation. Gone are the old owners, with Evergrande Real Estate Group buying the club for AUD$14.8m just one week after their forced relegation.

Xu Jiayin, Chairman of Evergrande Real Estate Group, promised the club would spend more in the transfer market to re-build the team. He has more than lived up to that promise.

In the most recent transfer window, Guangzhou spent a staggering AUD$18.25m in the transfer market, two and a half times more than the next highest spender.

The result of that was three new Brazilian signings - Paulão, Renato Cajá and Cléo. Not content with that they also added five Chinese national team players to the roster together with Cho Won-hee who played for South Korea and the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

It goes without saying that it is by far the most expensive roster in the CSL.

Guangzhou's total club budget of AUD$76m is a staggering three times higher than Shandong Luneng's, the next highest on a meagre, in comparison, AUD$22m.

You get the impression that the new owners are really trying to distance themselves from the sins of the previous owners and create a new era for Guangzhou - although money still plays a large part in that.

No longer are they paying the opposition to win games, they are instead paying to attract the best players and create a team and squad good enough to go all the way and win the CSL.

Redemption may be the order of the day for a number of CSL clubs after a tumultuous last 12 months, but the coming season is just as important, perhaps more so, for the national team.

Only a handful of Chinese national team players play outside the CSL, so the squad that begins the process of qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup later this year will come largely from the CSL.

After the embarrassment of failing to get past the first stage of qualifying for South Africa, the CFA will be acutely aware of how important it is that the national team advances to the final round of qualifying and, hopefully, qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Chinese Football is still in the deep, dark hole - this year will determine whether they get themselves out of it, or sink even further into the abyss.

Check out Paul's Asian Football Feast blog for regular updates, interviews and features from the world of Asian football.