The three-time champions enjoyed a comfortable afternoon on Saturday as they claimed a seventh victory in eight CSL games.
Dong Xuesheng notched the first after 18 minutes and the lead was doubled before half-time thanks to Brazilian Muriqui.
An own goal from Blagoja Celeski put the game beyond the hosts in the second half before Elkeson came off the bench to fire in his sixth of the season.
Shandong Luneng remain two points behind the leaders after a Vagner Love brace secured a 2-1 victory over Henan Jianye on Sunday.
The Brazilian struck twice in the space of 14 second-half minutes, taking his tally to seven goals in four games across all competitions.
Vagner Love's goals were enough to give Shandong a third straight league win, despite an injury-time consolation from Lee Ji-Nam.
Beijing Guoan bounced back from defeat last time out to defeat Harbin Yiteng 1-0, with the only goal coming just before half-time courtesy of Chen Zhizhao.
Harbin have now lost each of their eight games this season and remain rooted to the foot of the table.
Guangzhou R&F kept in touch with the top three thanks to a convincing 3-0 win over 10-man Dalian Aerbin.
Jiang Ning's goal was sandwiched between a brace from Davi, who now has seven goals for the season, while Dalian were hampered by the 36th-minute dismissal of Chen Tao.
Elsewhere, Hangzhou twice came from behind to record a 2-2 draw at Jiangsu Sainty, while Xu Liang's equaliser gave Shanghai Shenhua a 1-1 draw at Shanghai SIPG in a game that saw both teams have a man sent off late on.
Tianjin Teda played out a goalless draw against Shanghai Shenxin, and the score was the same between Changchun Yatai and Guizhou Renhe.
