I noticed on a State Depatment bulliten that a new agreement has been reached with China on the number of times one can enter on a visa. I was told by someone very knowledgeable that I should be able to get a multiple entry visa for the same price as a single entry. Since I will have to use a visa service I have been checking various sites and cannot find any change. This agreement took place on about Jan. 12, 2005. Has anyone had any experience with this. I tried calling some consulates and you cannot get through to a real person.....at least I could not!
I think before the only multiple visa was for about $150 and was for business only.
Are all of the visa service companies reliable and trustworthy or do I need to be very careful?

I just got one of the new 2 year multiple entry business visa (F visa) good for unlimited stays up to 90 days per stay. It cost me $150 (plus visa service company fees). I previously had a 3 month (2 visit) visa and a 1 year multiple visit visa. The 1 year visa also cost me $150 IIRC. I went thru www.expressvisa.com as a visa service. I was happy with them, they were really quick. Although it's not like they do much. They just drop off your passport, pick it up and send it back to you. But you do have to use a visa service nowadays (if you don't live near a Consulate or the Embassy) since as of about a year ago the Chinese Consulates/Embassy stopped accepted mail order visas. I found out all the rules + good info that I used for my visa application at:
losangeles.china-consulate.org

Good luck and I'd suggest you get as long a visa as possible if you plan on going back more than once since its a pain to get a new visa every few months or every year or whatever.