Normally, it's not good to change visa type. Maybe you should stay F1 first. Or try to get F1 or J-2 from Canada with at least two entries to US. You could use one of it to get back from China.
A lot of people came to US holding a J-1 visa from other countries than China while they were still Chinese citizen. This kind of J-1 is still between Chinese and US governments even if they changed citizenship later.