Through online vendors (ctrip, expedia, etc), or calling into the hotel directly? How negotiable are the rates if you call in usually?

Also, any other reputable online vendors recommended over ctrip?

Have someone Chinese call the Hotel directly. You will get better prices and more upgrades.
If you call the Hotel, you can negociate a good deal, but you have to have someone Chinese do it.

I asked a shanghainese friend to call for me to try to get discounts/upgrades. He got no upgrades or discounts, and they quoted him a price 150RMB/night higher than the online price, LOL.

In the US I use priceline to bid on hotels quite often. I used in in Oct to book a hotel in KL $50 for the Renaissance. There's some strategy involved as you bid on the price but can only pick the general category and location of the hotel - you can search their list of hotels to see which ones are in each category and location before you bid so that you often can end up at the exact place you wanted.

To try these 2 websites and may it can help you to book some cheap hotels from there~~~~~~
www.b-hotels.com
or
http://www.51766.com/

I used Agoda.com and they are excellent not only in price but also love the online chat in case of emergency so that you don't have to dial international for any short notice booking.

I called Shangri-la Harbin myself back in Jan and got a better deal than what was offered as special online. They also threw in free laundry and free airport pick up on top of the already lowered than discounted rate.