Originally Posted by
StuckinITH
Welcome to FlyerTalk and especially the United threads!
As WineCountryUA said, you need to upfare to get the PQDs. To do that you need to call United and ask for a GG BUYUP to the P fare. Hopefully it's available at the price that you need and not at a much higher price like I see it sometimes. With the GG BUYUP done on the phone you don't have to pay any change fee.
IND-SHA has a variety of P fares published depending upon travel date and original ticketing date. Some of them are actually too low to make up the necessary PQDs (although they'd be a good start). Some of them are way too high.
OP: You can call UA and ask what the price is to re-fare into business class for that trip. I'd say "re-fare" or "change" and not "upgrade." If the agent offers you an upgrade only on the PVG-SFO flight, decline, as that's unlikely to count for PQD purposes.