China's decade-long domination of Asian basketball was ended when South Korea scored a stunning, semi-final victory at the ABC Championship in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The Koreans caught the Chinese cold in the latter stages of the game, turning a 42-36 half-time deficit into an 86-72 victory.
South Korea will now meet Japan in the final after the Japanese defeated Saudi Arabia 108-92 in the other semi-final. Both finalists advance to next year's world championships in Athens, Greece.
China, the 11-time champions who have won the last five tournaments, looked unbeatable in the games leading up to the semi-finals, winning all their matches comfortably.
But wily Korean coach Chung Kwong-suk had kept a close eye on the Chinese, and his own team's defeat to Japan in the second phase made China the overwhelming favourites to advance to the final.
'Watching the Chinese play their games has helped us a lot to win this game,' said Chung.
'We needed to play fast during the game to equal the Chinese speed and to get them chasing us.' Chinese coach Zhang Bin was not available for comment after the game.
