For Guangzhou/Kanton I really have to recommend the Guangzhou YH on Shamian Island (2nd Shamian Sijie). They charge dormitory with 50 kuai but it is a neat place! Rooms have 6 beds but they offer a lot of space - not like in HK where they use every square inch. There is also a nice courtyard between the rooms and the office building.
The best thing of all is Shamian Island itself, of course. Full of beautiful buildings in colonial style. With all the flowers and trees it is like a big park. If you leave the island on the right side you will find a big fishmarket offering everything which lives in the water. From turtles to
Nearly opposite to Shamian Island there is the Qingping Market offering herbal medicine, dried snakeskin, and so on. But after SARS they reduced the offering a little bit, so I missed some things the Guangzhou cuisine is famous for.....
If you take the ferry across the ZhuJiang or Pearl River you find boulevards full of bars and restaurants. In the backstreets they offer real fake DVDs for 5 kuai without bargain - the cheapest price I found across China. It is said Guangzhou is the center of this business in China.

When I went to Chengdu I stayed at the TRAFFIC HOTEL or JIAOTONG FANDIAN (phone: 5451017) which is situated on the riverside of the Jin Jiang next to the Xinanmen Busstation. They offer dormitory for 40 Kuai, which is a nice and clean 3-bed-room. Clean showers and western style toilets.
There are cheaper places like the Sams Backpacker Guesthouses 1+2 with prices around 30 Kuai, but during my stay they were crowded, booked out, so I could not check the quality.
But the Traffic Hotel convinced me being worth the money!
It still is a walk of 15 minutes to the core of downtown but therefore you are close to the busstation leaving for the Big Buddha DaFo in LeShan and the EmeiShan.
It is a pitty that a bad stomach stopped me from visiting the DaFo! I will always remeber Chengdu as the place of my worst diarrhea - but the good toilets of the Traffic Hotel were certainly a big help;-)

If you go to Xian pass by the Railwaystation quarter as soon as possible. There are many hotels (next to all these hairdressershops....) but they are of poor quality.

The best one I could find was the CHUYUAN Hostel Phone: (29)-7287721. It is situated right at the NanMen - the South Gate of the City Wall. Take Bus No. 603 from the railwaystation to the South Gate. Walk to the right side of the Gate, just before passing through the Wall take the last alley on the right side - it is a small path only for one car at a time. Less than 50 meters and you will find this great place.
Everything is in an old traditional style, really cute. Employees are very young and helpful. They are all dressed in traditional clothes which fit to the architecture of the building.
They are also quite flexible with prices - a double room cost us 100 yuan.
They also offer a nice cuisine for afordable prices, even though I always prefer the streetkitchens throughout the Muslim Quarter.
The location is just perfect, when you get out of the Hotel doors you run right into the Great City Wall! You can not get any closer with your bed!
It is only a five to ten minutes walk to the Bell tower, the center of the old city.
Enjoy your stay!

Despite offering some amazing cultural and historical sights, Datong is not that famous for tourists, so there is no huge number of places to stay.
We arrived in the dark with heavy snowfall and missed the Hostel right opposite to the trainstation.
We first stayed in a more expensive hotel on the main road for 150 Kuai a doubleroom (for Datong quite expensive).

The next day we changed to the FEITIAN BINGUAN, which I mentioned is opposite to the trainstation on left side of the suare. They charge 40 Kuai for dormitory. Facilities are ok, toilets in Chinese style.

The pic shows the more expensive Hotelon the main road, sorry I can? remeber the name...

The ANTIQUE MARKET is situated in Yuzhong District, downtown Chongqing, close to Jiefang Bei. From JiefangBei walk down the MinquanLu to the round about or rotary traffic meeting the XinhuaLu (10 minutes walking). From this traffic circle you take the second street on the right side, which is called ZhongxingLu and heads down to the ChangJiang
Walk down this road where the Tea House is situated (my first tip) for maybe 5 more minutes. On the left side you will see a big building, which you can not miss because of many busy people. It is not spectacular from the outside but there are at least three floors full of traders. From the street you would enter the third one which offers electronic stuff, but I was not looking for a tv or washing machine. Walk around the building or down the stairs to the first two storeys where you can only find antiques! And by the way they where looking at me you could tell that this is a real Chinese market where they don? see foreigners very often (even in Chongqing). They offer everything from little things to complete old traditional Chinese beds and wooden statues (looked like old temple statues) of more than 3 meters height. You name it, they got it!
This market is open everyday, but don? come too late. If you come by on the weekend there is also some market outside offering all kinds of goods.

Have a good price hunting!