Thanks, everyone. I think MSPeconomist knows I'm a pathetic noobster, and was just trying to be helpful

All the info presented was much appreciated and very helpful. I did use Expedia to book the hotels for visa application purposes. They used to have a "Hold" feature that I used for just this purpose, but it seems to have disappeared. I just booked with my Amex, then immediately cancelled, so it worked.

I used mychinavisa.com. Thanks for that lead!