Sima Nan

In the early 21st century, he is well known for his staunch support of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) stances and nationalistic, anti-American sentiments.

Yu Li, better known by his pen name Sima Nan (born 22 June 1956), is a Chinese television pundit, social commentator, and journalist.

He graduated from Heilongjiang College of Business at the end of 1981, after which he was assigned to work for the central government in Beijing.

He had worked a variety of jobs since, notably as a journalist and television producer.

He is a member of the CCP.

The Wall Street Journal describes Sima as "one of China's most divisive advocates of neo-Maoist ideology", whereas Reuters characterized him as "Communist Party defender".

Sima has been described as a Chinese New Left, and is among the best-known advocates of ousted political leader Bo Xilai's "Chongqing Model".

Online, Chinese netizens consider him an "anti-America warrior", as a typical entry on Sima's microblog reads: "America is the enemy of all the people in the world... It’s like a giant tumor. Its military bases are all around the world. All wars after World War II were instigated, engineered or started by America...”

In the late 1990s, he was mostly known for his criticism of pseudoscience and supernatural phenomena, especially his opposition to what he called Qigong-related fraud.

Sima was born son of a traditional Chinese medicine doctor, in Heilongjiang province, although Shandong is considered his ancestral home.

In 2008, Sima waged an Internet war against Chinese commentators and intellectuals he says have hijacked this year's national dramas to undermine Communist Party rule and patriotic values.

He targeted two of the nation's most widely read and combative newspapers, Southern Weekend and Southern Metropolis Daily, accusing them of promoting "Westernization" and liberal beliefs.

He also accused the paper of writing favorably of Amnesty International and other groups critical of the Beijing Olympics and China's authoritarian government.

In September 2008, following the Beijing Olympics, Sima was interviewed by the BBC, and defended Chinese censorship regulations and the media firewall on Falun Gong in mainland China.

Sima said that the group disseminates material that is blatantly "anti-China" in nature and that the Chinese public has long grown irritated with "Falun Gong rhetoric."

In another interview with The Daily Telegraph, Sima says that China is not ready for personal freedom, nor suited to one man, one vote.

Liberals, he claims, want to do away with "Chineseness" and turn the country into a pale imitation of the West.

After Charter 08 came out, Sima wrote on his blog that the charter was a dangerous attempt to promote a Chinese "color revolution", referring to pro-democracy movements in Ukraine and Georgia.

In 2011, Sima was invited by the North Korean government to attend the 100th Anniversary of Kim Il Sung's birth.

After viewing the military parade, Sima enthused: " Not only should North Koreans love Kim Jong Un, people from every nation should love their leaders."

Bo's top lieutenant, Wang Lijun, was an admirer of Sima.

In June 2011, Wang invited Sima to give a lecture on "ideological media voice" to 1800 policemen in Chongqing.

During their meeting, Wang claimed he read Sima's writings "everyday".

During the Xi Jinping Administration, Sima's radical views place him in the mainstream of Chinese politics.

His Weibo channel spread the notion that Jews colluded with the Japanese to establish a Jewish homeland on Chinese territory during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

In August 2022, he admitted to buying a house in California.

This made him a target of widespread ridicule, with commentators saying "being anti-American is work, living in America is life".

For unknown reasons, he was blocked in Chinese social media in August 2022.

His accounts were later reinstated on 27 August.

On 4 July 2023, he attended the American Independence Day dinner hosted by the US Embassy in China where also met with US Ambassador to China R. Nicholas Burns.

Sima's attendance of the dinner was mocked by Chinese social media users who accused him of being hypocritical, as the day before the event he had slammed the US proposal to provide Ukraine with cluster bombs during the Russian invasion as “an act against humanity.”

In April 2011, days after Ai Weiwei was arrested by the Chinese government, Sima attended a web show denouncing him.

Sima claimed that Ai's fame was due to his anti-China stance, and Ai received foreign funding to subvert China.

Sima warned that if "Ai had his way, China will be worse".

Upon learning Sima's accusations, Ai's mother challenged Sima to show evidence backing his claims.

On 20 January 2012, Sima boarded a plane to Washington, DC, United States.

At some point after arriving at Dulles International Airport, Sima leaned over the handrail of an escalator and got his head stuck between the rail and an approaching section of wall.

He was rushed to hospital and received prompt treatment.

The fact that a pundit who made a career out of bashing the United States quietly traveled there on the eve of Chinese New Year invited suspicions of hypocrisy and a deluge of ridicule on Chinese social networking sites.

It was rumored Sima was in the U.S. to visit his wife and child living there, to which Sima did not deny, but emphasized privacy.