Hi steve-o:

Greetings from Beijing. I think that it is certainly possible to do a China trip without arranging a formal guide service in advance. For example, most hotels (at least, most hotels that foreign visitors stay in) can arrange day tours, cars, and English-speaking guides on short notice when you need them. Most hotels also have travel agencies in them that can arrange long-distance travel. That being said, you may want to have to deal with any of these logistics once you are in China, and having a tour company taking care of all of these logistics may appeal to you.

Although I always manage my own travel in China, I brought a group of students with me last January, and I wanted someone else to take care of the considerable logistics involved. I used a company called China Adventure Travel (Zheng-An) on the recommendation of a colleague, and they were excellent. They struck me as being unusually competent and friendly in a crowded field of Chinese tour and travel agencies, and I have been using them for little things ever since. I would be happy to PM you their contact information if you would find it helpful.

In terms of hotels, Beijing and Shanghai are loaded with good choices. Personally, I am willing to forgo some amenities for the opportunity to stay somewhere interesting, so I particularly like the Hua Yuan Bingguan (an old courtyard that once belonged to Mao's successor) in Beijing and the Jin Jiang Hotel (where Kissinger met Zhoue Enlai) in Shanghai. Both are reasonably priced and located in interesting neighborhoods. If you prefer Four Seasons, Penninsulas, Shangrilas, and the like, however, then both cities have even more to offer. I will leave these recs to other FTers.

Domestic flights in China are easy to book. You can do it online through sites like www.elong.com or this one: http://ticket.9588.com/FlightTicket/Main_E.aspx. Your hotel will also be able to arrange tickets for you with minimal fuss (although you may be expected to pay cash in that case).

Finally, if you're still trying to decide where you'll go during your stay, I hope you won't mind a couple recommendations that sometimes get overlooked by first-timers in China (assuming this is your first time): the Longji dragon spine rice terraces near Guilin are unbelievably beautiful in April. See here, for example: http://www.chinahighlights.com/photo...Fields22_f.jpg
I also like the Suzhou gardens (near Shanghai) quite a lot, and although I have never been in April, I cannot imagine a better time to see them.

Good luck with your trip!