Jin Daxing maintained his one-shot lead as Nacho Elvira, Jason Scrivener and Sihwan Kim set the clubhouse target on day two of the Volvo China Open.
The home favourite entered Friday at Topwin Golf & Country Club eight under and, while the chasing trio all got to that mark in the morning, Jin made an opening birdie to edge back ahead after two holes.
American Kim signed for a 66, with Spaniard Elvira carding a 67 and Australian Scrivener having to settle for a 69 after a closing double-bogey dropped him out of the lead.
Jorge Campillo and Soomin Lee were then in the clubhouse at seven under, a shot clear of Nino Bertasio and Jason Norris.
Italian Bertasio made the first big move of the day with a birdie-birdie start from the tenth and, while he dropped shots on the 12th and 14th, he quickly regained his momentum, birdieing the 15th, 17th and 18th to lead by two.
Further dropped shots on the third and fourth put him back into a share but he reclaimed the solo lead on the next only to bogey the seventh.
That dropped him into a four-way tie, with Lee and Scrivener continuing to make their moves up the leaderboard.
Scrivener had birdied the 11th and 13th and he recovered from a bogey on the 14th to make gains on the 15th and first.
Lee made birdies on the fifth, seventh, tenth and 11th to join the lead before dropping a shot on the 12th that he picked straight back up on the next.
Bertasio bogeyed the eighth and ninth to drop to six under and while that was the clubhouse target, it was clear it would not last long.
Spaniard Campillo was the first man to better him, turning in 35 with birdies on the tenth and 11th and a bogey on the 18th. A hat-trick of gains followed with long putts on the second and third before a bogey on the fifth and birdie - thanks to a brilliant tee-shot - on the sixth.
His seven under total would soon be three off the lead, however, as Scrivener spun his second on the par four fifth back into the hole to get to double figures with an eagle.
Elvira finished third on home turf at the Open de España 12 days ago and he was the next man to set the target at eight under.
He made four birdies in a row from the third but then came home in level par with further gains on the 11th and 13th and bogeys on the ninth and 12th.
Lee boegyed the 14th to drop to seven under but that was still just two back as Scrivener dropped a shot on the sixth.
The South Korean bogeyed the 16th but birdied the last to sit at seven under alongside Campillo, Matt Wallace and Julien Guerrier, with the latter two in the very early stages of their second rounds.
A birdie on the eighth followed by that double-bogey on the ninth dropped Scrievner back to eight under and with his birdie on the first, Jin was back in the solo lead.
Kim - a Challenge Tour graduate in 2013 - joined Scrivener and Elvira in the clubhouse with birdies on the fifth, sixth, tenth, 11th, 12th and 15th in a 66.
Fiji International champion Norris equalled the lowest round of the week so far with birdies on the second, fourth, fifth, eighth, 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th with a bogey on the 17th to sit at six under.
