BEIJING, Oct 11, 2012 (AFP) - The trio outshone Major winners Louis Oosthuizen and Y.E. Yang, who were both level par at the OneAsia $1 million event.
Six players will have to finish their first round on Friday but none have much chance of catching up with the leaders.
Liang eagled the first hole and birdied the third to continue a run of form that started in Japan two weeks ago when he finished joint runner-up at the ANA Open.
"I'm familiar with Nanshan as I have played here many times," Liang said in a report released by the organisers. "The course is in very good condition but really tests my game."
Yuan, a lowly 100th on the Order of Merit, kept pace with his better-known countryman.
Jones has not made a cut on OneAsia this year but said working with a sports psychologist has improved his mental toughness.
Only 15 players were under par around the 6,539 metre (7,151 yard) course. Oosthuizen -- winner of the 2010 Open Championship -- said he would probably try to play more conservatively on Friday.
"I'll just try to hit 18 greens and give myself 18 putts for birdie and hopefully one or two will go in," he said.
"There are a lot of birdies out there, but that bogey is just lurking around the corner all the time."
Yang, winner of the 2009 PGA Championship and a two-time OneAsia champion, double-bogeyed the last hole to finish level par.
"The wind was moving around so it made it hard," he said. "It is not easy to be aggressive on this course. I think eight or 10 under can win this."
Leading scores:
68 - Steven Jones (AUS), Liang Wenchong (CHN), Yuan Hao (CHN)
69 - Song Young-han (KOR), Aaron Townsend (AUS), Jamie Arnold (AUS), Wang Jeung-Hun (KOR).
70 - Chris Campbell (AUS), Park Sung-Hyuk (KOR), Daniel Fox (AUS), David McKendrick (AUS), Ryan Haller (AUS), Ouyang Zheng (CHN), Scott Laycock (AUS), Gareth Paddison (NZL)
71 - Leigh Deagan (AUS), Clint Rice (AUS), Terry Pilkadaris (AUS), Simon Yates (SCO), Kim Hyung-Tae (KOR), Y.E. Yang (KOR), Liu Yu-xiang (CHN), Gao Yi-jie (CHN), Andre Stolz (AUS), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA)