Agree. My experience was the same arriving from SIN into PVG and connecting to ORD. All the bags come off the plane and your are routed through immigration (although you do not need a visa). You collect your bag, lug it upstairs to the checkin counter and recheck you bag to your onward destination. There was a bit of confusion in SIN regarding the procedure, it being so unusual, but their final assumption was correct - there's no way to transit to the US without clearing immigration.

In my case, an xray machine tagged my suitcase contents for additional screening. I waited in a room, along with 10 other UA passengers while a security employee rummaged through our baggage. This took an additional 30 minutes - the faulty xray machine seemed to be identifying everyone's bags as having hazardous contents.

A modern airport terminal with outdated procedures.