The Oriental Express – arriving ahead of schedule.

NICOLAS Anelka's departure from Chelsea to Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua got me thinking: how far the game has evolved in the world's most populous Country?

Ever since the formation of China's top flight division in 1994 and its subsequent re-branding 10 years later (From the Jia-A League to the Chinese Super League), the far-east nation has pumped vast sums of money into its Football Association and the results of this are now beginning to show.

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