What is the shortest flight route from Chicago to China?

I've been to China many times. I've flown from Nashville through Detroit, Newark, and Baltimore to Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. All of the flights take the direct path to China, which is to fly near or over Alaska, and then come down near or over Russia. All of the flights are from 12-15 hours long. If you add flying from another US city (such as Nashville) to either of the listed American airports, and then add flying from the listed Chinese city (i.e. Beijing) to another Chinese city, the flight, with layovers can easily be a 23-24 hour ordeal. If you think you can just fly to Alaska and cut the flight time in half, guess again. Most of the cheap flights from Alaska to China actually go to San Francisco or Los Angeles first.