It is suggested that you book these hotels located in the main tourism regions with good transportation. For example, the People's Square in Shanghai, the Tiananmen Square or Qianmen in Beijing and the Haizhu Plaza or Yuexiu Park in Guangzhou.

For the details on supplying for a China visa, please refer to: https://www.travelchinaguide.com/embassy/visa.htm

Hi,Ms.Mitz,you can visit Shanghai Bound, Beijing Great wall,if you have the time, you can visit shaolin temple(www.shaolinchina.org)

i would really like to see the great wall and the other lovely and historic places in china but can you give me an idea how much will i need to spend as a fare and what kind of transportation if i will be going from shanghai to beijing and shanghai to guangzhou? i just wanted to make sure my budget would fit.. thanks...

From Shanghai to Beijing, both of train and flight could be used. From Shanghai to Guangzhou, you'd better take a flight which is faster. You could search the flight and train info respectively at:
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-flights/
https://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/

Actually, most of the money will be spent on the transportation. So, you could ask for help from an agency which could get discounted air ticket and hotel.