Both sides were out of the medal chase already, but the result means that Russia now have the chance to play for fifth place on Tuesday.
China now know they can do no better than seventh.
Goaltender Irina Gashennikova was in fine form for Russia, stopping 30 shots.
But she could do nothing in the second minute of the match to prevent Lei Xu giving China a 1-0 lead.
However, that merely served to spur Russia into life.
They scored four consecutive goals, with Larisa Mishna, Pashkevitch and Tatiana Burina all on target in the third period.
Tatiana Tsareva scored with 7mins 55secs left to make it 4-1.