Trip Advisor keeps telling me that I keep rising in rankings on my reviews..... I am now in the top 10% of reviewers. (I really haven't posted that many reviews though...)
What you might find is a good thing to do is book the ticket round trip from Beijing or Shanghai. You could then earn miles on your flight between the two cities. The subway in Shanghai is close to both airports, in fact line 2 goes between the two, but it takes over an hour to do so. They have a mag lev train from Pudong Airport, which I recommend, since it is faster and you get a seat almost all of the time. They do have a subway for the airport in Beijing, which actually tends to be very quick and leads right into the city. I can't recommend any hotels in Shanghai, I am sure there are some good ones, but I can't remember the names. There is one near the Bund that is part of Jinjiang Inns which is kinda quaint and fairly comfortable, and it is not too expensive, but I can't remember the name for certain. In Beijing Ibis hotel near Dongdaqiao subway, which I think is line 6, is near to the central part of the city and an area called Sanlitun is comfortable and clean, not too expensive, not fancy, just a motel really, similar to LaQuinta or a midlevel Motel 6.
For booking hotels you might want to consider Ctrip or Agoda, as they give better discounts in Asia than Hotels.com. You can earn points which can be used for rooms. I will warn you, Ctrip can be rather customer service lacking. I had an issue with them about a hotel I stayed in and they said they would not refund my money even though I refused to stay at the hotel and they threatened to cancel my account if I took any action with my credit card to have the payment refunded! I did take that action and my Ctrip account still works.... Also, for both sites you might want to be wary of the pictures posted there, they might have been taken 20 years ago when the hotel/motel was opened. I stayed at a hotel in Thailand which I booked on Agoda and we had to change rooms twice and still none of the rooms matched the pictures, I am sure that the rooms on the site did exist, but they were probably the higher priced rooms and the pictures were old. I mean there was quite a bit of a difference. I also have stayed in rooms where the hotel from the outside looks rather nice, but when you get there the hotel does not look the same, but the rooms are great. I stayed at a place in Beijing that when I got there I had to recheck the pictures of the hotel three times to know that I was in the right place. The rooms were inexpensive, but they were nice, actually really nice for the price. I have stayed in rooms very similar which were three times the price, but just as nice.
As far as the conversion to cash, I am not sure how the points convert to the airline miles. It takes 35,000 miles on United to fly one way to China, or maybe it was 30,000. The same miles is needed for Delta too. If the money conversion Chase is greater than the miles conversion, simply convert the MR points to money. Doing this means you also earn more MR points on the purchase and more frequent flyer miles. This aspect is something else you might need to consider.
If you are going to see things, well Beijing has more tourist things to see than Shanghai. Shanghai has more shopping and is more modern in some ways. Beijing has markets where you can buys things more easily at discount prices, but be careful about the quality if it is a pirated item. There are two major markets which sell knock offs, one is the Silk Market and the other is Yashow, the silk market is higher priced for the same items as they cater to more of the Western foreigners than Yashow does. Yashow is in the Sanlitun area, right next to the mall there. (They just renamed the mall to Sanlitun Village I believe, but any foreigner should be able to tell you how to get there.) Be very careful bring back the knock offs, customs doesn't like if you bring back too many things of that type. I usually only go to Yashow for Chinese style stuff. I don't have a need for the knock offs, maybe once in a while as a gift, mostly because the quality can be lesser on many of those items. They do have some very nice tablecloths and placemats there though! Chinese style, not knock offs. Bargain if you go there! Always use their currency, most of the people there will speak some English. If they say 600, then you want to say 60, or simply watch and listen to others for a while. They will say they will lose money at the price you offer or they are giving you the friend price.... Ignore it. Remember it is like a market, so there are others there with the same exact product, so go low and shop around and you can find the best price available if you are patient, willing, and want to have a little fun at it. Don't be surprised if they grab your arm and hold onto it while they talk to you.
Have you considered Hong Kong? If you want to buy things at lower prices, which are real, most of the time, then this can be the place to go. It is like NY of Asia. If you want to go siteseeing of ancient places, then go to Beijing. If you do decide to go to Hong Kong during this trip, remember it is probably cheaper to fly into Shanghai or Beijing and fly there, then back to the mainland to leave. It seems that prices for HK flights are higher. Also be careful of going on sightseeing tours which are organized by the hotel or an agency, you might end up at a Silk Museum, which in reality is not a museum, they might give you a tour of the place and show you some old things and have a few rooms which might seem like it is a small, really small museum, but it really is a store and the prices might not be a bargain. This is also true for the pearl museum, etc. And don't go to Tea Houses with strangers that just want to practice their English or see a students paintings, both involve getting you to spend money for something that is overpriced, sometimes 10 times or 50 times more expensive than it really is.
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.....
Always follow these rules: Only take a HP for a new account. Always use the best rewards card for that reward category. Don't close a card unless you know you really should. Never use more than 35% of a credit limit. Recon as much and as best you can. Use the introductory period to the best advantage. Get the signup bonus. Whenever possible PIF or balance transfer so you pay less in interest. Never give an excellent rating when it is actually the norm. Always look for a discount as more is always better.
Always accept candy from strangers because they have the best candy or from people you know have good candy.
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