Home hope Huang Wen-yi leads the way after day one of the Shenzhen International, but it is Peter Uihlein who finished strongest on Thursday as he surged into second place.
Huang's eight birdies and two bogeys saw him top the leaderboard with a score of six-under, one ahead of a chasing pack of four.
American Uihlein is among that quartet, along with An Byeong-hun, Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Felipe Aguilar, and will carry a great deal of momentum into day two following an impressive back nine.
The 25-year-old was level par at the turn, but posted five birdies on his way back to the clubhouse - including three in a row on his last three holes - to power up the standings.
"Nice three in a row and four of the last five," Uihlein is quoted as saying by the European Tour website. "I'm definitely pleased.
"I played Thailand [in February], and had to withdraw with food poisoning, then played one [event] in Puerto Rico, and then I had a wrist injury and had to take some time off.
"Then I switched coaches, so I’ve had a strange six weeks or so.
"I feel like I did a lot of things really, really well and I felt like I did some of my old habits and hit a couple squirrelers, but I'm pleased with five under, for sure."
An's round featured a hole-in-one on the par-three eighth, while Morten Orum Madsen matched that feat on hole 12.
Neither player had managed a hole-in-one as a professional prior to this season, but both now have two to their name.
It was not such a great day for Jin Jeong, who was forced to retire due to what was described as an "ongoing injury".
Elsewhere in the field, Bubba Watson carded a two-under round of 70, sandwiched between Andy Sullivan and Alexander Levy, who are a shot better- and worse-off respectively.