By Fu Qi, Li Huizi

    BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhua) -- "Unhappy China," a book released this month asserting China's power to lead the world and calling for a radical change in its foreign policies, has caused a stir among experts and scholars, but has failed to strike a chord among average Chinese.

    "Unhappy China - The Great Time, Grand Vision and Our Challenges," intends to "spur, stimulate and wake up" the intellectuals, according to Song Qiang and Huang Jisu, two of a group of five authors, dubbed by analysts as "grassroots intellectuals." The other three are Song Xiaojun, Wang Xiaodong and Liu Yang.

    The book argues that "with Chinese national strength growing at an unprecedented rate, China should stop self-debasing and come to recognize the fact that it has the power to lead the world, and the necessity to break away from western influence."

    The book says "the current financial crisis reflects an overall corruption of the American society.

    The book advocates more stern foreign policies.

    "We should incorporate retribution and punishment into our diplomatic strategies, especially when dealing with Sino-French relations," referring to the meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the Dalai Lama in December last year.

    The authors believe ordinary citizens should not be deprived of national development benefits, and that China should have the ambition to reestablish the world order, assume a leadership role among nations and achieve industry upgrading amid the current global financial crisis.

    The book comes at a time when a series of events seemingly stirred the nationalistic sentiments among Chinese, such as the public sale of two Chinese cultural relics in France by the global auctioneer Christie's, the dispute of sovereignty over the Nansha Islands with the Philippines, and western countries' tolerance for the Dalai Lama.

    Earlier this month, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo signed a bill that defines the Philippines' territorial waters, including the Huangyan and Nansha islands as Philippines' territorial waters.

    China's Foreign Ministry expressed "strong opposition and solemn protest" about the legislation. Last week, China's dispatch of a vessel for routine fishery administration mission to patrol waters of China's exclusive economic zones including the Nansha, Xisha and Zhongsha islands also sparked concern from the Philippine side.

    During his recent visit to Europe, the Dalai Lama has garnered quite a number of honors, including honorary citizenship in Rome and a honorary citizen of Venice the next day before arriving in Germany to receive the German Media Prize.

    Last year also marked a transition for China to step upon the world's center stage after it hosted a successful Olympic Games, sent the country's first space-walking astronaut and surpassed Germany to become the third-largest economy behind the United States and Japan, it said.

    "But we still feel suppressed that we are sometimes condemned or criticized by the western world," said Zhang Xiaobo who masterminded the publication. Zhang was also one of the authors of the 1996 bestseller "China Can Say No."

    Released on March 12, "Unhappy China" was widely regarded as a follow-up to the 1996 bestseller which, observers believed, signaled the awakening of nationalism among Chinese intellectuals. The book was translated into eight languages.

    Some of the group of "five grassroots intellectuals" authored both books. Most of them are experienced journalists, editors or TV commentators.

    Huang Jisu, one of the five authors and a sociologist and editor of the Chinese version of the Journal of International Social Sciences, said in the mid 1990s, many elite Chinese "blindly admire the western world and begin to lose confidence in China," but still some intellectuals did not believe China was like "a drowning boat with little hope," -- a prevailing thoughts at the time.

    It was in those years that radical intellectuals in China started to speak out against the western world's shortcomings and reaffirm China's confidence to depend on itself.

    "Both books are about interpreting China-West relations," Zhang explained. "The only difference is that 13 years later, China's role has turned from 'leading itself' into 'leading the world'."

    A commentary on the news365.com.cn said the book gives full vent to Chinese nationalism and anger toward western bias about China but in a superficial and arrogant way.

    "However, it's necessary to have such a vent," it said.

    Although the book is a hit among academicians and scholars, it seems to poorly resonate among ordinary readers.

    Major book retailers such as the Beijing Book Mansion in downtown Beijing and the Zhongguancun Book Building, have the book put on inconspicuous shelves labeled with "Chinese politics." Usually best-sellers are placed at entrances for special promotion.

    "It does not sell well," said a saleswoman at the store. "Few people linger at this section."

    A customer surnamed Wu at the store told Xinhua that the book was "detached from everyday life," and in a time of economic meltdown and heavy work pressure, she would not pay attention to it.

    At douban.com, a popular online community for book, movie and music reviews, the book has been attacked by harsh comments. About 300 out of 400 netizens evaluated the book poorly, with only one star out of five.

    It was merely "a scrambling of random and irrational thoughts," one post said.

    At an online community of major Chinese portal sina.com.cn, a large majority of the 163 blog posts discussing the book voiced opposition.

    A netizen said the book's title was eye-catching and just for the purpose of promotion, but the content was poor and radical.

    "It tells us China is good enough. Don't be self-critical. Don't be caught in internal problems. The West is just a paper tiger. What else? Nothing else."

    Some scholars also expressed their dissatisfaction with the book.

    Shen Dingli, deputy dean of the International Relations Department of the Shanghai-based Fudan University, said the book was "too extreme and nationalistic" which shows Chinese intellectuals are ridiculous and actually demeaning their own nation.

    Shi Yinhong, professor of the Beijing-based Renmin University of China, said the book written by the leftists was full of criticism but lacked of "constructive suggestions."