Not that I've come across. You can only choose seats on C、D、G trains, and on 12306 at least you get a chart that lets you pick the seat you want.

As 889 mentions, 12306 does permit seat selection, and I have seen a few other sites that have presumably connected to its APIs, but support for passport numbers is not common (extra work for programmers with minimal upside potential).

As I've mentioned previously in threads on this topic, I'm a strong proponent of buying tickets at in town booking offices. When doing so, I don't jump across the counter to check out the seat map, but I do request a car away from the dining car unless I want to use the dining car as an office, and a seat on the two seat side of the aisle when travelling second class.

Thanks, moondog,
I have tried 12306, unfortunately it is all greek to me (sorry for the punt, can't read Chinese).
Yes, I do use (usually just picking up tickets that were purchased online) the in city train offices whenever I can. They are dotted all over any city.
Its too bad that the OTA that I used to book ticket never show seat map. They randomly assign seats, often not to my liking. Oh well, first world problem!

what is the best way for foreigners to book train tickets within China (those who do not speak/read Chinese)= my question does not deal with trains in Hong Kong or Macau.

ticketing services such as Ctrip (where one can get the actual ticket delivered to the customer, or one can still ask to pick up the ticket at the train station), or

reservation services such as
www.china-diy-travel.com and www.travelchinaguide.com

where one gets the confirmation number, and goes to the ticket counter at the train station to pick up the ticket.

I understand that china-diy-travel.com does offer telephone customer service in English, if there is an issue/problem.
Do the other services offer English language telephone customer service?

If ctrip offers delivery, use them but opt out of the insurance. They have English phone reps.

We rarely read complaints on forums about ticket agents. They are pretty similar and charge more or less the same. The main differences would be in the level of service (ctrip would be my last choice) or some tricks that they play with their T&C. for example, all except 2 agents, charge you the price of a (more expensive) lower sleeper even though they get you an upper sleeper. Only ctrip says that while they initially charge the price of the lower sleeper they will refund the difference if they get an upper sleeper. China-diy-travel invoices you after they bought the tickets so you pay what they pay (others ask for payment before buying the tickets).

Are you saying that China-diy-travel is the best ticketing (or more precisely, the reservation) option.

As we will be arriving at the hotel in Shanghai around 6 pm, and we hope to take a train by noon the next day at the latest, I do not think it would be practical to ask for ticket delivery to the hotel. So we would be willing to pick up the train ticket(s) the evening before departure - at least we can get oriented to the train station when there are less crowds, before going to the more crowded station the next day and go directly to the train (platform).

If the service you use offers delivery, of course you should avail of it!

I think what he means is that if there's a problem with ticket delivery, there won't be much time left to resolve it. I'd agree that going the confirmation number route is the more foolproof option.

He's staying in a real hotel. Nothing to fear imo.

Still relying on the delivery guy. Having the confirmation number in hand when you board the plane for Shanghai is the sleep-soundly option.

IMO.

顺丰 has never once failed me, even when shipping to places in Beijing where a single street address serves 5000+ people. In the instant case, we're talking about a well known 5 star hotel, and a date almost 2 months away.

Sadly it seems many of the in town ticket offices are disappearing. These were my favorite options. I'm lazy now so I just book on Ctrip and pick up at the Shanghai station which is two subway stops from my office. It's worth the 20 RMB service fee to me for using Ctrip.

There's still a good one on Wanhangdu Lu just south of Beijing Lu, which is my goto, but this won't help the OP. I dislike will call at the train station because, while it usually takes 2 minutes, 20 minutes happens pretty often, and the latter throws off my schedule. If I were the OP, I'd gladly pay an extra Y50 for delivery in order to avoid going to the train station earlier than necessary.

"顺丰 has never once failed me."

And you've never been on a plane that crashed.

Ergo, planes don't crash.

Point is, sometimes things do go wrong even at fancy hotels and such. And with his schedule, the OP won't have time to fix the problem, if there is one.