I took this flight on Air China you are asking about last year, and found the J hard product to be extremely nice for business class. At the time it looked quite new (not sure if it was recently updated or what back then). I had the seat free next to me as well so it was even roomier because of that. If the hard product is most important to you, I don't think you'd be dissapointed.

Cabin service actually started out good, but quickly declined. I'm not going to speculate too much on if it was because I did/didn't speak Mandarin, but it wouldn't really surprise me either way. The food wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything amazing either. As far as lounge in PVG, I think it was a contract lounge that I had access to flying in J if my memory is correct. Personally, I found it to be decent and better than the reviews I'd read about it. Then again, my standards are probably a lot lower too!