Samba boys too much for the Chinese
A brilliant Roberto Carlos free-kick started the fireworks before Rivaldo, a Ronaldinho penalty, and Ronaldo sealed a performance on South Korea's Jeju Island, worthy of the South American's reputation for great flowing football.
The four-time world champions were ultimately too strong for Bora Milutinovic's team, who to their credit, kept playing right to the very end.
However, the Chinese simply could not match the class and lethal finishing that Felipe Scolari's men provided and will have only one more match remaining against Turkey in Group C, having been eliminated from reaching the second round with this result.
The Chinese were the brightest side to start, showing some fine touches and good one and two touch passing, as they pushed forward.
However, it did not take long for the class of Brazil to shine and take control of the match, when the South Americans won a free-kick outside China's penalty area after a quarter of an hour.
Roberto Carlos lined up the set piece from 30 yards out and the Chinese having five men in the wall, the Real Madrid winger hit the ball around the wall left and into the far left-hand corner of the goal, giving goalkeeper Jiang Jin no chance to make a save, as Brazil went 1-0 up in spectacular fashion.
It set the tone for the remainder of the half, as Brazil's slick passing and movement was becoming too much for the Chinese to deal with.
Minutes after the opening goal, Brazilian right-back Cafu made a run down the right and sent a blistering shot from the edge of the Chinese penalty box straight at Jiang Jin, but the Chinese custodian did well to block the Roma defender's effort away.
The shaky first moments were behind Felipe Scolari's men and Brazil started to play with their trademark flair and efficiency, controlling the midfield with Rivaldo and Juninho in the central positions.
It would not be long until it became two, as Cafu got forward on the right again and crossed into the box, with China only half clearing the ball to Ronaldinho on the left side of the penalty area.
The Paris Saint Germain man played the ball back in to the far post, where Rivaldo got on the end of the ball and easily side-foot volleyed it, to make it 2-0 just after the half hour mark.
It was Brazil's match at this point but the Chinese - to their credit - continued to play and compete, with Ma Mingyu wasting a glorious opportunity to pull one back for the Asian side.
After a fine ball across Brazil's penalty box, Ma blasted over the bar and failed to trouble Brazilian goalkeeper Marcos with his effort.
Ronaldo, who scored in the first match against Turkey, got involved in a move just before half-time.
A cross from the left by Ronaldinho found the Internazionale striker but his header went over the Jin Jiang's bar.
However two minutes later, Brazil extended their lead after Ronaldo beat Li Weifeng and Du Wei, who pulled on the Brazilian's shirt and brought him down on the penalty spot, with Swedish referee Anders Frisk having no choice but to award a penalty.
Ronaldinho stepped up to send Jiang Jin the wrong way with his spot kick and score his first goal in the finals and send his country into the break with a comfortable three-goal lead.
The second half saw more of the same play, with the Chinese remaining committed to the cause but Brazil always looking dangerous going forward.
Ten minutes into the period, Ronaldo scored his second goal in as many matches, when Brazilian skipper Cafu again got to the by-line and past his marker to slide a cross along the deck to the unmarked hit-man at the far post, who tapped home to make it 4-0 and cap the result early.
It should have been five on the hour mark, when man-of-the match Cafu latched on to a through ball from the left but having got around keeper Jiang Jin and an open goal at his mercy, his touch let him down as the rolling ball was cleared away before he could reach it to put home.
However, with the Chinese out of it by this point on the scoreboard, they still came forward and midfielder Zhao Junzhe hit a wonderful curling shot at the edge of the box but only to see his effort go off the post and away to safety.
They continued to attack and from a free-kick, substitute Shao Jiayi curled his set-piece over the Brazilian wall but goalkeeper Marcos dived left and touch it away for a corner.
But Brazil looked like they could score at will and just before he went off with 20 minutes to go, Ronaldo got on the end of a move in the box and saw two strikes stopped brilliantly by Jiang Jin, as China averted giving up a fifth goal.
Yet, just as it looked like that fifth goal would eventually come before full-time, substitute Qu Bo balanced the closing stages, when he nearly split in between Roberto Carlos and Roque Junior in the box before the ball was just cleared away.
Qu came closer to scoring minutes later, after getting on the end of a fine give-and-go pass but his by-line shot was stopped by Marcos, as he successfully kept a clean sheet between the posts.
In the end, Brazil were in control and cruised into round two looking like a side that have a real chance of winning their fifth World Cup but China will have learned more from this 90 minutes than at any stage during these finals, despite seeing their hopes of progressing dashed by this result.
Team Ratings
Brazil: Marcos 6, Cafu 9*, Lucio 7, Roque Junior 7, Roberto Carlos 8, Gilberto Silva 7, Ronaldo 7 (Edilson 5), Rivaldo 8, Ronaldinho 8 (Denilson 7), Juninho 7 (Ricardinho 6), Anderson Polga 6.
China: Jiang Jin 8*, Wu Chenying 6, Li Tie 7, Ma Mingyu 7 (Yang Pu 5), Hao Haidong 6 (Qu Bo 7), Li Weifeng 5, Zhao Junzhe 7, Du Wei 5, Li Xiaopeng 5, Qi Hong 5 (Shao Jiayi 6), Xu Yunlong 5.
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