 At the age of sixteen he would instead go on to join Changchun Yatai and start to playing as a forward.To begin his professional football career he would move to Yunnan Hongta in 2000 and then go on to make his debut in the Jia A in 2002.Injury saw his playing time limited throughout the 2003 league season, however in 2004 Hongta was bought out by Chongqing Lifan and Shi started to get more regular playing time within the first team where he quickly excelled as a forward.