WHEN an anti Western letter from a Leningrad schoolteacher, Ms Nina Andreeva, was published in the Soviet press in 1988, everyone in Russia knew it had been sanctioned from on high and that it signalled an attack on reform by ultra conservatives in the Communist Party.
Something eerily similar appears to be happening in China today with a rabidly anti American book, China Can Say No, published in June and written by a group of right wing young intellectuals. Many observers believe it could not have come out without a nod from someone at the top.
As with the Andreeva letter, the challenge has been taken up by reformers. In the past few days an unusually open debate on China's relationship with the rest of the world has surfaced in the tightly controlled media - raising intriguing questions about a power struggle in the leadership.
Controversy over the book, a best selling sensation, was brought into the open by Southern Weekend Magazine in a critical review headlined: "Poor and Hastily Manufactured Specimen". It accused the authors of "chaotic thinking" in their collections of essays headed "The Blue Sky Must Die", "The Yellow Sky Must Rule", "Burn Down Hollywood", "Chinese Youth Must Have a Sense of Dignity and prepare for War", and "I Will Never Fly a Boeing 777".
"What does it mean to just say no?" wrote commentator Yan Lieshan scathingly, in a review describing the authors as boastful megalomaniacs who would likely support another Cultural Revolution. Millions died in the war on "rightists" during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s.
"Does this mean that only by shutting our country off from the outside world and resisting like we did before, we can safeguard our state sovereignty?
"The authors suggest calling upon the masses to resist American products and boycott American films. We have long ago tried these immature ideas and this is a dead end that runs opposite to China's modernisation's goals."
Lively debate about the book has also surfaced in the letters' page of Shanghai's Youth Dairy, with most correspondents critical. "We Chinese should have the self respect to be a sensible critic," wrote a reader.
It is no secret that the direction of reform is a hot topic among top officials. Recently Mr Qiao Shi, chairman of China's National People's Congress, admitted to clashes in the leadership over new Bills.
When asked if there were some "leftists" who wished to reverse reforms, he told a German newspaper: "Deng Xiaoping correctly stated we are influenced by rightist factors, but even more deeply rooted leftist factors. China should beware of the rightist factors, but under all circumstances prevent the leftist factors."
In the free market conditions of China, some experts say the book may have primarily been about making money, with the authors exploiting a deep sense of resentment against the West.
Their recommendations have so far had little effect. China seems intent on calming relations with Washington, and a visit by President Clinton to Beijing is widely anticipated.
Nationalist sentiment is currently directed against Japan in a bitter row over disputed islands in the East China Sea. Official anger is this week focused on Australia, where the Prime Minister Mr John Howard, said he planned to meet Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
China has criticised this week's visit by the US Treasury Secretary, Mr Lawrence Summers, to Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province, but its response was muted compared to the belligerent reaction two years ago to the granting of a US visa to Taiwan President, Mr Lee Tenghui.
The Prime Minister, Mr Li Peng, yesterday warned international parliamentarians in Beijing, however, that China's peaceful foreign policy should not be mistaken for weakness.
"We shall never yield to pressure from any big power under the pretext of ethnic, religious and human rights issues", he said, in remarks clearly directed against the US.