*When I edited my post, I accidentally deleted the analysis itself. The short of it is that only tickets under y490 are less than $100, and it's pretty clear to me that the average price for airplane tickets within China is significantly greater than that.*

A potential flaw in the above analysis is that it doesn't take into account that award inventory is limited. One might further assume that award booking classes are tied to some of the lower fare buckets. But, in my experience, neither of these issues are all that noticeable in China. While it's true that you're unlikely to snag award seats on flights that are close 100% booked, award availability is generally pretty good, even in full fare situations.