Just after the half hour mark Mesaed Al Enezi was sent off, then a lucky deflected goal by Linpeng Zhang got the Chinese going and not long after they doubled their lead thanks to a magnificent Deng Zhuoxiang free kick.
Kuwait received a boost going into the game as key striker Bader Al Mutawa was passed fit to face the Chinese. Thankfully, he lived up to his billing and was very lively in the opening stages of the game.
The Kuwaitis had more of the ball in midfield but struggled to really test the Chinese goalkeeper Yang Zhi, though they did have a strong penalty claim as China imposed themselves physically, but the referee played on, much the annoyance of the team in blue.
In a scrappy match that was littered with fouls, both teams struggled to create many clear cut chances, especially Kuwait who didn't even register a shot on target during the first 45 minutes.
Life was made even more difficult for them when Al Enezi was sent off for a dangerous challenge on Yang Xu just after the half hour. But despite the man advantage China looked short of ideas in the final third.
Early in the second half Kuwait had an opportunity to take the lead when a seemingly harmless Bader free kick from a very tight angle caught out Yang Zhi in the Chinese goal, who looked to have fumbled the ball over the line.
But luckily for China the whole of the ball did not cross the line, despite protests from the Kuwaitis, and the referee waved play on.
Even though they had ten-men, Kuwait did look the more dangerous with Bader working extremely hard as the lone front man, but he did lack support as China grew into the game, before scoring a somewhat fortunate goal.
Linpeng Zhang hit a speculative shot from the edge of the area, but it took a wicked deflection off Hussain Ali and trickled past Nawaf Alkhaldi in the Kuwait goal.
Taking confidence from the goal, China began to look more dangerous, especially from the wide areas, and on the counter attack. They did have one chance when Junmin Hao was played through on goal, but he was scythed down by Jarah Al Ataiqi on the edge of the area.
Then from the resulting free kick, Zhuoxiang curled a magnificent effort in from 20 yards, giving Alkhaldi no chance.
Not quick enough to react to the increasingly dominant Chinese, Kuwait were lucky not to have conceded more, though Bader did have an effort tipped over the cross bar late on.
China are next in action a week on Wednesday as they face hosts Qatar, while Uzbekistan take on Kuwait.
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