Has anyone applied for one recently?

There is a massive application form and I need way more information than I actually currently have.

Some of the requirements they need that I don't even have yet or may not have.
1. Personal invitation letter from someone in China (anyone live in China)?
2. Complete round-trip e-tickets (I seriously have to book all flights and connections before I get this visa)?
3. Complete hotel listings for all people travelling for every single night staying in China (definitely wasn't going to book these ahead of time ugh).
4. $300 per person (easiest of these requirements to comply with lol).

Has anyone done this recently? Any tips or suggestions?
We're going [Toronto>Beijing] [Beijing>Hong Kong] [Hong Kong>Bangkok] [Bangkok>Toronto] so they are going to need copies of ALL of those.

This is more work than I thought!