Aleksandar Zivkovic and Han Peng were on target for the injury-hit visitors, who went into the game on the back of a 2-2 AFC Champions League draw with Adelaide United in midweek and missing key players Wang Yongpo, Cui Peng and Zhou Haibin.

It was far from a straightforward victory though and Xiamen posed the greater threat in the early stages, Joaquim Silva Quinzinho proving particularly dangerous as the Angola striker was repeatedly denied by Shandong keeper Li Leilei.

However, after weathering the early storm, Shandong took the lead a minute before half time thanks to the home team's generosity.

Zivkovic played a one-two with striker Li Jinyu that keeper An Qi tried to cut out but the Xiamen stopper failed to collect the ball, allowing the Serbian an easy tap in.

Shandong were more dominant after the break and duly scored a second after 70 minutes when Han Peng backheeled a cross from Zivkovic into the net to seal victory for the defending champions.

Shandong now lead the way on 20 points, one ahead of Tianjin Teda and Changchun Yatai and boss Ljubisa Tumbakovic was reasonably satisfied with the result after the draining encounter with the Australians on Wednesday.

"The result was good but we should have played better.," he said.

"The AFC Champions League match, the injuries and the national team training camp affected our play today."

Elsewhere, Uruguay international Diego Alonso's brace helped last year's runners-up Shanghai Shenhua narrowly defeat Qingdao Zhongneng 3-2.

Qingdao's Qiang Ning struck first for the visitors after only three minutes before Liu Junwei's own goal on 17 minutes cancelled out the early advantage.

Alonso put Shenhuaback in front a quarter of an hour from the end but Qingdao's Nigeria international Benedict Akwuegbu levelled the game nine minutes later, only for Alonso to net the winner for Shenhua in the dying minutes after heading home from a corner.

Wuhan Huanghelou beat Zhejiang Lucheng 3-0, Beijing Guoan were held to a goalless draw by Changsha Ginde and Henan Jianye lost 1-0 at home to Liaoning Zhongyu.