I agree that OZ is a great option, as long as you are on a 777 and not a 747 (which has the old-style business class). Have you tried splitting the trip into two tickets, such as the TrasPac from the west coast and a domestic r/t? Another possibility that might lower the cost would be to fly UA to ICN or NRT and then hop OZ or ANA to PVG from there. It is worth running some of these options to see what comes up. Another great option is AC, which sometimes has very reasonable fares to Asia (except to HKG, which often keeps pace with the high fares on Cathay Pacific).