As many of you know, I detest tours, and I think I've made decent case as to why upthread.

That having been said, I entertained a few visitors in ~2006 who booked PDX-PEK-SHA-PDX for $1,000 pp, including hotels (~10 days). IMO, if you can snag something like that, then go for it; there's no requirement to join in the tour activities.