US Citizen Visa - not near embassy/consulate

Your application should be submitted to Chinese embassy in Moscow, they do not accept mail application. If you can not go in person, you can send it to anyone you entrusted, let him/her or an agency to do it on your behalf.

Thank you for the reply. Unfortunately, after personally visiting almost half a dozen tourism agencies/visa services in Novosibirsk, I have not found one that offers visa services to non-Russian citizens. A few have suggested that I go in person to Yekaterinburg or Khabarovsk, but these cities are out of my way to say the least. Can anyone suggest a visa service that will service American citizens by mail?

If travel agencies do not accept application from non-Russian citizens, it indicates that you may unable to get a visa in Russia if you are not working or living there. So, you'd better rearrange your travel itinerary and apply for a China visa in other country or region. As my experience, to apply one in HK is easy.