Du Wei, Jiang Ning and Hao Junmin also netted in the Asian Cup qualifying Group D encounter as the home side bounced back from last week's 3-2 defeat in Syria to ease the pressure on caretaker coach Yin Tiesheng.

It took less than a minute for Gao to make his mark in the game as the young striker nodded in Hao's excellent corner.

However, China were stunned eight minutes later as Nguyen Vu Phong drew Vietnam level when he beat keeper Song Zhenyu with a smart finish.

It proved a false dawn for the visitors, however. Gao latched onto Huang Bowen's through ball and fired home to restore China's advantage after 20 minutes.

Defender Du Wei extended the lead seven minutes later when he tucked away Du Zhenyu's corner at the back post, and Jiang then notched the fourth, clipping a shot into the bottom corner of the net from the edge of the area after Vietnam had failed to clear their lines.

Matters did not improve much after the break for the ASEAN champions as Hao claimed the fifth when he slotted home after collecting Qu Bo's pass.

Gao then completed his treble in the 83rd minute when he was picked out by Zhou Haibin's pass and unchallenged in the box, applied a consummate finish.