Alex Noren joined Hennie Otto at the top of the Volvo China Open leaderboard as good scoring conditions continued early on day two in Beijing.
Otto had fired a brilliant nine under par 63 on Thursday to take a two-shot lead as he made the best of the calm early conditions at Topwin Golf and Country Club.
But with the South African not due out until the afternoon session in round two, it was the turn of the rest of the field to take advantage of low winds, and it was Noren who jumped out as he picked up four shots in his first 12 holes.
Bernd Wiesberger was a shot further back at one under for the day through 11, while Lucas Bjerregaard, Tyrrell Hatton, Maximillian Kieffer and Li Haotong all made big early moves to get to seven under.
Swede Noren started on the tenth and was blemish-free so far for the day making gains on the 13th, 15th, first and third.
Austria's Wiesberger had been Otto's closest challenger overnight and he turned in level par 36 from the tenth before picking up a stroke on the first.
Kieffer was the man making the biggest move of the morning, and the German had gains on the third, sixth, seventh, ninth and tenth to move within touching distance of the leaders with eight to play.
Home favourite Li was four under for the day after 11 holes having started with three birdies and he picked up another shot on the 14th, with Bjerregaard and Hatton both three under for the day through eight holes.
The Dane had gains on the tenth, 15th and 16th, while the Englishman picked up shots on the tenth, 14th and 15th.
Chile's Felipe Aguliar was at six under at the turn alongside Dutchman Joost Luiten who had played one hole more, with Grégory Bourdy, Peter Hanson, Roope Kakko and Fabrizio Zanotti all out in the afternoon.
