Guizhou Zhicheng climbed off the bottom of the Chinese Super League standings as Gregorio Manzano's side brought Shandong Luneng's perfect start to the campaign to an end with a 2-0 win on Sunday afternoon.
Shandong had won their first three games of the season and were looking for a fourth to keep pace with table-toppers Shanghai SIPG, who had defeated Chongqing Lifan on Friday evening.
But goals from Babacar Trawally and Mario Suarez earned Guizhou all three points to move them up to 14th while Shandong remain in second place, three points behind SIPG and level with Guangzhou R&F, Guangzhou Evergrande and Beijing Guoan.
"Before this game, I told my players it was going to be difficult," said Manzano. "Shandong were leading the league with Shanghai SIPG after the first three rounds while we had not won a game and were at the bottom of the standings.
"But we were able to win this game because our defence was united and our offence was able to take their opportunities.
"Our last win of last season was against Shandong and our first win of this season is also against Shandong. Now we have moved out of the relegation zone and we will do our best in our next game against Tianjin.
Jiangsu Suning, meanwhile, picked up their first win under new coach Cosmin Olaroiu, who replaced Fabio Capello earlier this week.
Olaroiu, who took Al Ahli of the United Arab Emirates to the final of the Asian Champions League in 2015, was appointed officially on Wednesday and saw his side defeat Tianjin Teda, with Richmond Boakye and Alex Teixeira giving their team a two-goal lead.
Johnathan pulled one back for Tianjin nine minutes from time, but Jiangsu held on to secure their second win of the campaign to move up to eighth in the standings.