When Japan's economy was flying high in the late 1980s, former Sony chairman Akio Morita and right-wing politician Shintaro Ishihara published a best-selling book titled The Japan That Can Say No, urging their countrymen to stand up to the rest of the world, especially the U.S., in trade and other disputes. Today China has an economic growth rate of 10%, one of the world's highest, and plenty of differences with the U.S. In a new book evidently modeled on the Morita-Ishihara tome, five young Chinese writers say it is their country's time to stand firm against the world. The 435-page volume, China Can Say No, was published in Beijing in May. Despite a relatively hefty $2.40 price tag, the book sold out its initial print run of 50,000.

China Can Say No consists of essays by five authors--including a poet, a journalist, a university professor and a free-lance journalist--all in their 30s. The general thesis, as described in a jointly written preface, is that "a great conspiracy directed at China from the 'free world' is being formulated." The plot is led by the U.S., they say, and it includes the recent diplomatic rows over such issues as human rights, copyright protection and Taiwan, as well as the aggressive export to China of such Hollywood movies as True Lies, which the book describes as a glorification of violence and individualism. These attempts to undermine their country and its culture, the authors contend, "have made the Chinese people, particularly the youth, sick and full of aversion."

Though critics may dismiss China Can Say No as mere propaganda, consistent with official attempts to whip up nationalist sentiment as the appeal of communist ideology wanes, many Chinese evidently do feel the U.S. has been picking on them. Opinion polls on the mainland, unreliable as they may be, show high levels of anti-American feeling, especially among young people. Foreign visitors report that ordinary Chinese, no doubt reflecting what they read in the official press, are concerned about an alleged U.S. strategy to "contain" China's growing economic and military might, even though the Clinton Administration has denied having such a policy, and U.S. business interests are arguing strongly for closer ties with China.

That latter cause received a boost with last week's four-day visit to Beijing by U.S. National Security Adviser Anthony Lake, who met a number of top officials, including President Jiang Zemin. Among the subjects discussed was a possible China trip by U.S. Vice President Albert Gore later this year and perhaps even an exchange of visits by Jiang and President Bill Clinton early in 1997. Such high-level contacts could do much to soften Chinese rhetoric against the U.S., as did the historic Beijing visits of Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon in 1971 and '72. "I realize there are anti-American themes in the press," said a U.S. official traveling with Lake, "but that goes up and down depending on the state of the relationship." Even now, despite all the recent tensions, more than 100,000 Chinese are studying in the U.S., and the artifacts of American popular culture--McDonald's hamburgers, Levis jeans, even True Lies, which played to large crowds late last year--remain popular in China. The official press and some intellectuals may be saying no to the U.S., but Chinese consumers are having little trouble saying yes.

--Reported by Mia Turner/Beijing