I made about 12 intra-chinese flights in the last 24 months.
All but one on paper tickets.
I had e-ticket from Shanghai to Beijing-Guilin- Shanghai.
My Chinese friend made an e-ticket resevation for me.

Getting out of Shanghai was a hassle. Leaving for the airport in Beijing I noticed that my friend had the wrong date on the ticket it was yesterday's date.
Try explaning that to the clerk.
She said my name was in the computer but no ticket attached.
I had to purchase a new ticket and they only had only first class left. no refundsor credits on the e-ticket.
If I had a paper ticket they would only chage a small fee for the date change.
Getting out of Guilin was a hassle too, they had to print a paper ticket for after waiting 20 minutes.
'No chinese eticket for me

Just a followup

I am now back home in NJ. The return from XIY went well. We arrived a few hours early and found an MU 'eticket' desk, opposite the check-in counters. After the woman behind it finished a 5 minute telephone convresation with a friend, we gave her our passports and copy of the Yoee.com confirmation. In about 30 seconds she printed out 'paper tickets' (actually, just a pin feed dot matrix 1/2 page document) for each of us which we took across the floor to the check-in counters and had no problem checking in. They changed our seats to our aisle preferences without a hassle.
The credit card charge hit my account while on the trip and was converted at 7.42.

All in all, an acceptable experience. Of course there are many things that can go wrong (THIS IS CHINA), but I suspect, like the US, more and more travel will be by eticket in China. The only thing I might have done differently was to use Air China outbound, since they really seem to be working hard to make etickets in China work.

The big plus in all of this is the ability to access in advance (buy 2-7 days before the flight, as recommended by moondog), low chinese domestic airfares from the US. My average of 500Y each way was exactly what moondog suggested was the lowest cost for this trip generally available from local agents.

I would do this again, with the only caveat being, this is China, so expect the unexpected and just deal with it.

Edited to add:
BTW, the pumpkin congee was OK, but pretty bland

I have been using a web called qunar.com but the problem is they don't often have available seat even it shows on web

however, it maybe a good try

Now what good would that be... booking a ticket and then finding they have no availability? no thanks...

The first time ctrip pulled the same trick on me (maybe 5 years ago), I was angry... to the extent that I raised a bit of a fuss (it should go without saying that my fuss went nowhere). IIRC, I boycotted them for a month or two in protest. But, then a true "bricks and mortar" TA left me in the cold (literally), so I decided to make peace with ctrip.

Takeaways:

-this sort of dishonesty is the norm in the China internet travel space
-ctrip is cool because, assuming you are a decent customer, it is the ONLY point in the PRC travel process that you can push for resolution when things go awry

The second point is key. Perhaps Elong is similarly situated; I wouldn't know it because I don't use them. But, with ctrip, you have a company with resources to bail you out of jams that are unmatched by any other players.

While I've yet to receive any true air-side assistance, I predict they will be the first to make such happen.

I've stopped using bricks and mortar TAs in China having being badly let down last year - failed to tell me of a cancelled flight that resulted in an expensive rerouting that could have been avoided and no reimbursement of extra cost

I likewise use ctrip and have some confidence that they have the resources to deal with issues - I particularly like the fact that they have desks in most major airports both landside and airside. Don't know how effective they would be, but it feels quite reassuring

nickyboy

I was quite surprised in finding a ctrip-desk at NNG. No English spoken, nonetheless trying to be helpful.

qunar.com is a meta-search engine. Frequently you encounter the same problem on kayak.com, saying the price you were quoted has increased.

Overall, qunar.com, kooxoo.com, and other meta-search sites are working well.