Yes.  I've booked a return before with only the intention of using the outbound flight.  But check the terms and conditions carefully before doing this because sometimes they can penalize you for not turning up!

Im from the UK, we also have the same issue on our trains.  I have no idea why its like this because it just results in loads of people buying return tickets and only using half of it.

lousy business practices and it is not just china....  mass confusion and just plain lunacy....airlines should be better regulated... this from a right wing guy

sometimes I watch airline prices...  recently.... Malaysia airlines dropped a lot of their prices, for obvious reasons ..    then pretty much all the Chinese undercut them again,,air china, china southern and china eastern, all reacted to Malaysia airlines attempt to stay in the game.....  it is a real lottery when buying a plane ticket these days...... $800 or $1600 from Guangzhou to Vancouver  ..  

This is normal the world over. Supply and demand. If there is a big demand for visiting one place then the prices might be higher than leaving said place. Also if it is off peak for traveling to place A then the prices will be lower flying in than flying out. 

Return to Kashgar early this week was Y810.  Last time I looked it was Y2250.

I didn't go anyway.  Next time.

I let my GF do my bookings on a Chinese travel website, I think qunar.  It is about a third of what we have to pay on English language sites

I like many have been enduring this problem for the last 8 years. Yes I agree, if you don't do your homework then usually price can be anything between 30 and 70% more. Bare in mind the more you search the the systems track your computer, and after a few time the price inflate  higher ad higher. I travel frequently between Ireland, London to China and reverse, I have learned to log in searches with different computers. Often I have found price rising after some searching, however if I then login on another computer I usually find some price return to  first original offer. I don't fall for this 'ONLY' 2 or 6 seat lf nonsense.  Even the o so goo airlines now like Aeroflot has become so expensive and many carriers want to send you the long way around. 

We have a couple of times bought return tickets from Frankfurt to Guangzhou (or the other way) and only used one direction as it was simply cheaper than buying a one way. 

Maybe you can buy the round trip and then just cancel the return trip for a little bit of refund.