Thank you for your earlier thoughts. I have been watching pricing and scheduling carefully, and it looks like CA will be the winner (UA has scheduled nonstop services from LAX, but its pricing is wildly noncompetitive (4x the price of CA). That may change, but CA is on a moderate sale now, so I'm booking it.

Now my questions turn to itinerary! The "anchor" of this trip is an event in Beijing but I'm expanding to see Sichuan and Yunnan...all for tourism, mostly for food travels (and pandas). The current plan is:
LAX-TFU CA (1-stop)
4 Days in Chengdu
TFU-DLU (Dali) --
3 days in Dali
DLU-PEK (CA)
2 1/2 weeks in Beijing
PEK-LAX Nonstop (CA)

My three quick questions for this knowledgeable group is:
1) What do you think of the timing for Chengdu/Dali? Not enough time in either place...or too much?
2) For the transpacific legs on CA 777-ER with 2-2-2 business class layout, what do you think are the best seats?
3) Oddly, I cannot book the TFU-DLU leg through CA website, I am guessing because the 2x daily flights are code shares between AC and Air China Inner Mongolia. I hope to be able to resolve with CA customer support. However, even if I cannot book all for legs as a multi-city trip on CA, I'm not worried. I can book as open jaw on CA and separately buy a cheap ticket TFU-DLU on many airlines. <<EDIT: CA couldn't resolve -- that flight hasn't gone on sale yet, which is odd because all the other flights have gone on sale, including flights with later departures. Airlines are weird>>.

Many thanks for any advice.