China fines ultranationalist blogger Sima Nan US$1.2 million for tax evasion

In November, after decades of posting and amassing more than 50 million followers, outspoken blogger went silent on social media

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Chinese state media says Beijing tax authorities detected tax fraud by outspoken blogger Sima Nan. He was fined more than 9 million yuan. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:58pm, 21 Mar 2025Updated: 9:08pm, 21 Mar 2025

Chinese authorities have fined ultranationalist blogger Sima Nan, an outspoken critic of the West and the private sector in his own country, more than 9 million yuan (US$1.2 million) for tax evasion.

State broadcaster CCTV reported on Friday that tax authorities in Beijing detected tax fraud through big data analysis and found that from 2019 to 2023 Sima Nan had under-reported 4.62 million yuan in taxes using methods such as concealing income and making false declarations.

Additionally, he owned a film and television planning centre in Beijing and had underpaid 753,200 yuan in corporate income tax by fabricating costs and “illegally benefiting from preferential policies for small and micro enterprises”, the report said.

The Beijing Municipal Tax Service fined Sima Nan and his company a total of 9.26 million yuan, the report said.

Mainland media quoted a person close to the blogger as saying that he was remorseful and had already paid the taxes and fines. The Post verified that Sima Nan made the comment to his associates.

Sima Nan, whose real name is Yu Li, has more than 50 million fans across social media platforms in China, including on Weibo, Douyin and Toutiao. His accounts went silent from November.