[2] For the rest of the season, he became a squad regular where he was used mainly as substitute and eventually scored his first goal on 31 October 2009 in a 2-1 league victory against Changsha Ginde.

[6] In February 2014, Dong received a trial with Chinese Super League side Guangzhou R&F and was believed to be signing with the club.

[13] However, his scoring rate fell in the rest of the season after his strike partners Gervinho and Ezequiel Lavezzi struggled with injury.

Dong was called up to the Chinese under-23 national team in 2011 where he was reunited with his previous manager from Shanghai Shenhua, Miroslav Blažević.

[14] Dong made his debut for the Chinese national team on 18 June 2014 in a 2-0 win against Macedonia, coming on as a substitute for Gao Lin.