If UA gets OK to starts ORD-PVG (Shanghai) in October, you should have a good shot of getting award seats in F and C (if you grab them quick enough). You will be able to get to most of the major and secondary Chinese cities from PVG.

Alternatively, also consider All Nippon Airways to Hong Kong via Tokyo. ANA offers sleeper seats in first class, and its business class seats are decent, although I still prefer C on UA. Another choice will be SQ from SFO to HKG, but it is hard to get award seats on them.