The letters have stopped now, but the accountants are suddenly open to a name change, said Dickson Leung, a senior partner at the firm.

Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy and the global crisis that followed has led some in China to reassess their view of Wall Street, especially against the backdrop of their own country's remarkable rise.

"From a Chinese perspective, in the past people thought: 'Wall Street - that's where people make a lot of money'," Leung said by telephone from Beijing.

"Now the Chinese might be thinking: 'Who knows? Maybe we can do better, we can create another Wall Street in China'," he said.

The accounting firm's name - the surnames of its U.S. expatriate founders - attracted clients because it sounded "very American," Leung said, insisting the company had not just tried to copy the famous bank's similar moniker.

But bankruptcy carries a harsh stigma in China and now prospective clients could see it as unlucky, he admitted.

Though dented, "Brand America" remains much admired in China - but at the same time the Chinese are keenly aware the tectonic shifts in the global economy may also be their break-out chance.

If the money trail is any indication, Chinese ties to the U.S. are stronger than ever. The Chinese government remains one of the biggest financers of U.S. debt and this month two Chinese banks opened their first U.S. branches to keep pace with their clients' expansion into the United States.

Despite the turmoil, trust in American consumer brands is at an all-time high due to China's contaminated milk scandal, which led to more than 53,000 children falling ill, said Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group.

"They feel there is better quality control, people aren't going to cut corners, put in bad ingredients in order to make money," Rein said. "So on the consumer side, that 'Made in America' label is still very powerful."

Confidence waning

But at the same time, confidence in U.S. financial institutions has plummeted, Rein said, citing surveys his firm conducted in 10 cities across China.

"They want to take their money out of Citibank and they want to put it in Bank of China," he said.

Chinese business schools will continue to study U.S. case studies for best practices, said Liu Shengjun, assistant director of China Europe International Business School's Case Development center.

But U.S. corporate governance cases are a different story, he said. The current meltdown and episodes like the collapse of Enron, amid some US$40 billion in hidden debt, had taken its toll on corporate America's reputation.

"People here used to worship the US model, which seemed very successful," Liu said.

"The image of US financial institutions is now a lot worse," he said.

But on a busy Shanghai street corner, Lao Li said the financial crisis had not hurt demand for the pirated Hollywood DVDs he sells from boxes on the back of his bicycle.

"In bad times people like to watch American comedies," he said. "They are selling really well."

As millions of Chinese move daily to cities from the countryside they arrive wanting cars, gadgets and appliances - success as defined by American lifestyles, Martin Rolls, author of "Asian Brand Strategy" said.

"Brand America is still very strong and it will be for a very long time because it carries a lot of the connotations of dreams, of aspirations," Rolls told AFP.

"You can reach out for the skies, you can build something global. We still haven't seen truly global companies out of China."

Tian Bo, who repairs bicycles at the side of the road in the center of Shanghai, agrees China is not yet ready to look away from the U.S.

"To me the United States is a place with many rich people that is advanced in so many ways," Tian said. "Even if they are having troubles, a skeletal camel is still bigger than a horse."