on the visa to China it states they want to know where you are staying for the duration.

Hi, Pat, it's required that you should offer the hotel reservations that can cover at least 2/3 of your whole stay in PRC. If the rest of your vacation is not too long, it's possible that you can only submit the hotels for the first five days. You can state on the application form that you want your trip more flexible and therefore not book all the hotels needed.