It's hard to compete with the Asian carriers, due to both their lower labor costs and their strong point of sale in their home countries.
AA was (is) not very good at competing on any route that might be remotely competitive (e.g. they couldn't make ORD-TYO work even with a joint business with JL). It's a shame because I like AA's international product in both Y and J.
I did fly AA PVG-LAX in Y and I wasn't that impressed. The food was crappy and MU was much better. I had to fly AA just because I missed my MU flight and had to book a last-minute flight back to the US.