SHENZHEN, December 14, 2013 (AFP) - Asia-Pacific lead 6 1/2 - 5 1/2 after clinching Friday's fourball matches 4 1/2 - 1 1/2 and going down 2 - 4 in Saturday's foursome clashes at the CTS Tycoon Club in Shenzhen.
The OneAsia Dongfeng Nissan Cup pits 12 Asia-Pacific players against a China national team over three days in a Ryder Cup style tournament.
The visitors won the inaugural 2011 tournament and retained the title last year.
Veterans Zhang Lianwei and Huang Wenyi, paired again after their opening fourball win, set the pace from the start on Saturday by hammering Scott Laycock and Michael Long 5 and 4.
China's gamble on changing all their other pairings -- the visitors kept their combinations the same -- paid off handsomely.
Eric Mina and Choo Tze-huang, the only Asia-Pacific pair to lose on Friday, looked to be making amends by turning four up against Yang Guanming and Yan Bin in the second match.
But the pair from Szechuan turned as hot as their home province's famed spicy food, and they won five-in-a-row from the 13th to triumph 2 & 1.
Southeast Asian pairing Thaworn Wiratchant and Rory Hie looked comfortable for most of the day after starting birdie-birdie against Huang Mingjie and Wu Kangchun before easing to a 3 & 2 victory.
Su Dong and 16-year-old amateur Dou Zecheng didn't have to do much in their 3 & 1 win against Choi Ho-Sung and Kim Dae-Sub as the Korean pair posted seven bogeys or worse before shaking hands.
Match five proved the most exciting of the day with Wu Ashun and Wang Minghao going toe-to-toe with the Japanese pair of Kazuhiro Yamashita and Masimichi Uehira all the way to the 18th before winning one up, with the lead changing hands four times.
The Asia-Pacific Select side grabbed a crucial second point in the final match courtesy of some more deadly putting from 2013 OneAsia Order of Merit champion Matt Griffin who snatched a half on Friday with a 60-footer on the last.
China vice-captain Cheng Jun was full of praise for the way his side battled back.
"It's a good match for Team China today," he said, according to a statement by organisers.
"It was a good and aggressive beginning, very stable, and then (the others) cooperated well later. Today's results went just like we planned."