In a glistening finale to their championship winning season, Shenzhen Jianlibao completed the formality of their final league game - a 2-2 draw with the once mighty Dalian Shide - and then donned the traditional golden jackets to collect not one, but two trophies to mark the strangest league title imaginable.
'I can't think this could have happened anywhere else in the world,' said striker Djima Oyawole of the comic book tale, as he and the other players celebrated the city's first national title, seven months after last seeing a pay cheque.
Next weekend things could get stranger still - strange enough to make the plot of Shaolin Soccer seem ordinary - as Shenzhen can also win the inaugural Chinese Super League Cup (they face Shandong Luneng in the final in Jinan).
The championship finale had threatened to be an even greater celebration as Shenzhen led the team that dominated the Jia A era 2-0, through a fantastic Li Jianhua drive in the 43rd minute and a Li Ming header after an hour.
'Dalian like water' the fans sang - a phrase used to describe fake goods. Ironic, because time will prove that the northerners, seven-times champions in the last 11 seasons, are the real deal and that in only a few months Shenzhen will be the ones looking like the cheap imitations.
The speed with which Dalian recovered confirmed that, thanks to the towering figure of Zhang Peng, who headed home the first in the 66th minute and won the penalty, dubious though it appeared, converted by Zoran Yankovic four minutes later.