Three times Sun Jihai, at the heart of nearly all China's best moves, chipped in low crosses that eluded the tall Brazilian centre backs only to see his strikers fail to trouble goalkeeper Dida when they should have scored.
A draw was a fine result for a side thrashed 4-0 by the Brazilians in the World Cup last year and a great start for Dutchman Arie Haan, the new coach of a team which came back from those finals without scoring a goal or winning a point.
But there were few signs of the promises Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira made of a world champion performance as his side strolled through the first half and rarely penetrated the blanket Chinese defence.
He blamed jet-lag.
"The team's speed and energy were poor because they were travelling so much," he said. "We started poorly, but finished strongly."
Twice Sun, playing on the left side of midfield rather than the right wing back role he occupies for his English premier league side Manchester City, chipped in beautiful crosses.
SCRAMBLED AWAY
The first, in the 34th minute, was headed narrowly wide by Xu Yunlong and six minutes later Li Yi did the same when it had seemed easier to score.
The Brazilians were a little brighter in the second half and Ronaldinho would surely have scored just three minutes in but for a dubious offside decision in front of a crowd of more than 50,000 containing just a few Brazilians.
Chinese goalkeeper Liu Yunfei had to be alert several times as the Brazilians slotted in angled passes towards Ronaldo, who showed few flashes of his ability to terrorise defences.
The closest he came to scoring was in the 58th minute when Ronaldinho capped a wonderful run that took him past four defenders with a chip that Ronaldo managed to scoop over the onrushing goalkeeper only for the ball to be scrambled away at the last moment.
Seven minutes from the end, Sun set up another splendid chance, this time for Li Jinyu, who screwed a volley from 10 yards out towards the corner flag when he had plenty of time to control the ball and fire past the static Dida.
The Brazilians had few clearcut chances as Haan, a former Dutch international, made sure his men were all behind the ball whenever they lost possession.
Perhaps the best chance fell to Luisao six minutes from the end as his side made a real effort to ensure they did not leave the pitch without scoring, a rare event in Brazilian football.
The Cruzeiro defender rose high above everybody else at the far post only to direct a soft header into goalkeeper Liu Yunfei's hands.
But Haan was happy after seeing his squad, picked by Chinese Football Association officials because he did not know the players, for the first time.
"The result is a good performance for the new Chinese team," he said. "We can build on this".
