Marcello Lippi's leaders did their bit at the weekend by beating Hangzhou 4-0 at home, but Luneng's win leaves them 11 points behind the leaders with four games still remaining.
Evergrande, who have a game in hand, travel to the second-placed side next weekend knowing that anything other than a defeat will see them crowned champions.
Lippi's men, who have lost just once in the league, took the lead through Zheng Long in the 41st minute and he doubled his tally six minutes into the second half.
Elkeson then came off the bench to score in the 76th and 79th minutes to seal a comfortable win for Evergrande.
Luneng kept the title race going for another week at least as two goals from Vagner Love, in the seventh and 84th minutes, came either side of Wang Yongpo's strike just after the hour mark.
Beijing Guoan occupy the third and final AFC Champions League spot after a 2-0 home win over Shanghai Shenhua, Peter Utaka's goals in the 45th and 56th minutes proving enough.
They climbed above Guizhou Renhe, who went down 1-0 at home to in-form Tianjin Teda.
Carmelo Valencia scored the only goal of the game in the 71st minute to give the visitors their fourth successive victory.
At the other end of the table, Changchun Yatai climbed out of the bottom two thanks to a 1-0 win away at Shanghai Shenxin.
Zhang Wenzhao's goal in the 20th minute proved the winner as Yatai claimed their third win in four matches to leapfrog Qingdao Jonoon, who were thumped 6-1 at Shanghai SIPG.
Zhu Zhengrong opened the scoring for the hosts in the first minute, before Wu Lei made it 3-0 at half time.
He completed his hat-trick three minutes into the second period, Luis Cabezas made it five in the 57th minute and Zheng Dalun hit the sixth with five minutes to go.
The visitors managed a Song Wenjie goal in the third minute of stoppage time as they crashed to a seventh successive league defeat.
Guangzhou R&F are in fifth place after a 2-2 draw away at Dalian Aerbin.
Yu Dabao put the hosts ahead on the hour, before Zhang Yuan levelled matters three minutes later.
Lu Lin gave the visitors the lead in the 71st minute, but Dabao's second goal five minutes later ensured the points were shared.
Elsewhere, Eleilson's fifth-minute goal gave Jiangsu Sainty a 1-0 home win over Liaoning Whowin.
