I don't actually find the hotel price to be necessarily offensive in the absence of any other information... in foreign countries, you often have to pay a premium to get American-standard lodging (if it's even available).
I don't think people outsource to developing countries because they think they'll get cheaper hotels there... it's more about the cost of the services / goods being delivered.
Shanghai is more or less a first-world city these days. American-style hotels will not be hard to find. Your "if it's even available" parenthetical may be true in general but is rather absurd in this particular context.