- You could also fly out of Hong Kong or Guangzhou, most US airlines have flights there.

- Between Shanghai and Beijing, there are several options. Around the shanghai area, Hangzhou (maybe Wuzhen or the other museum town - somebody help me with its name) is worth a trip. From Shanghai you could work your way up to Nanjing (or even Hefei), stopping in Suzhou -> Wuxi -> Nanjing. The latter is, imo, a very beautiful city, where you can spend several days at.
From Nanjing, Hefei is an option, if there is time left, or you fly further up to the north: Qingdao is worth a vist (although it might be a bit "chily" in September), continuing on to Yantai (if you like), then heading to Beijing.

- Going down south from Shanghai, you still might want to go to Suzhou / Wuzhen / Wuxi, or even Nanjing. Then Hangzhou -> Shaoxing area (very nice scenery) -> Ningbo. Then maybe continue to Quanzhou/ Xiamen (famous for Gulangyu island). If there's still time, you can do a trip (even a day trip) to see the Hakka houses. From Xiamen, continue to Guangzhou/ Hongkong.

- Deep down in the South, there would be Yunnan and somehow also Guilin/Guangxi. Both of them tend to be overrun by (western) tourists during the summer/ late summer months, but are nice to go to, anyway. I wouldn't combine it with a Beijing departure, though (4 hr flight)

- Going west, the area around Chengdu and Chongqing is quite interesting. Going deeper into the West, Xinjiang/Gansu is certainly feasible, whether I would recommend doing this as the first individual, non-guided trip to/in China ... I don't know. The further west you get, the more "difficult" it can sometimes be, i.e. no high speed trains, long flights (Xinjiang), bad infrastructure.


I would not book with a (Chinese) travel agent. They overcharge and the east coast is really easily doable. We'll certainly help here, too


Yes, tour group food is awful and some try to meet the western tastes...
Breakfast is most of the time included, some chinese hotels might only have chinese options though. If you opt for western chains, they have the same rate system (you decide whether you want breakfast or not) as everywhere else.

The library might be a good place to find information on Massachusetts, for example. However, in the case of China, I recommend you go to a book store instead (i.e. pace of change is such that older volumes aren't very useful). I like the Lonely Planet myself. Other options include Fodor's, Let's Go, Rouge Guide, etc.

My local library has all the latest (2009/2010) editions of all those travel books.
Those are the books I plan to read. I've always liked Frommers books, especially for Eupean destinations, but don't know if his book on China is very good. Fodors suggestions are usually a bit pricey, Lonely Planet's a bit of backpacky travel. But LP is good for itinerary planning.

The main con I find on tours is that you waste a lot of time when the bus picks every passenger from hotel to hotel, then you have a limited time at the important place, and they take you to shopping, probably outside city where you are obligated to be there, when you could have spent and enjoy more time at the main site. That happened to me in Egypt, and almost in India too.