Li Yuchen | Fudan University Professor Shen Yi suggests the PLA open a live stream: “Netizens can raise funds for the war against Japan by giving gifts”

On March 11, 2026, Shen Yi, a professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Fudan University, spoke the truth during an online live broadcast. He said that this year marks the 80th anniversary of the Tokyo Trial, “If you come again, I don’t mind trying you again.” The premise of the trial is, of course, to knock them down first. How to do it? Professor Shen gave a highly innovative solution—

Let the People’s Liberation Army broadcast live, netizens give gifts, and the people raise funds to raise the military expenses for attacking Japan.

I believe it. Of course I believe it. In 1900, the Boxers also believed they were invulnerable to swords and spears.

I have to admit that this plan does solve a long-standing puzzle for me: it’s already 2026, and the national defense budget is 1.9 trillion yuan, how it’s spent, we don’t quite know. But Professor Shen seems to mean that it’s not enough. If it’s not enough, we have to raise funds. The way to raise funds is through live streaming. The live streaming platform is probably Douyin. Douyin takes a 50% cut.

In other words, half of every “Carnival” that the people spend is for ByteDance.

This is no longer raising military funds, this is attracting new users for internet companies. It is recommended that the Ministry of National Defense and Douyin jointly launch a “Reward Ranking”, and the top contributor will be awarded the title of “Honorary Staff Officer”, and those who donate 10 million can have their names engraved on a missile. I quickly corrected my unserious thought—it’s too low to engrave names on missiles, it should be engraved on aircraft carriers.

Let’s do the math. The national defense budget in 2026 is about 1.9 trillion yuan. According to industry data, the total amount of rewards from all live streaming platforms across the country for the whole year is optimistically estimated to be about 400 billion. In other words, even if all the rewards from every live streaming room, every top contributor, and every “Lao Tie 666” in the country are confiscated, it would only be enough for one-fifth of the military expenses.

The cost of attacking Japan is far more than the annual defense budget. Referring to the US’s war expenses in Iraq, which is about 2 trillion US dollars—equivalent to about 14 trillion yuan, which is equivalent to the entire people not eating or drinking and swiping live streaming gifts for 35 years.

When Professor Shen said this, his research field was cybersecurity. Not military science, not Japan studies, not national defense economics. A person who studies cybersecurity gives a live streaming reward plan on the issue of military fundraising, just like letting a dentist command a beach landing—it doesn’t matter if the profession doesn’t match, the key is to dare to speak.

But you can’t say that Professor Shen has no historical origins to follow. In 1951, during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the whole country launched the “Donate Aircraft and Artillery Movement”. According to party history data, Yu opera actress Chang Xiangyu performed more than 180 shows, raising 1.52 billion old currency, and donated a fighter jet. The Buddhist community donated the “Buddhist” fighter jet. It was really the end of their resources, and at that time the per capita annual income was less than one hundred yuan. That kind of tragic, you may not agree, but you have to admit that it is sincere.

In 2026, Professor Shen upgraded this narrative: no need for charity performances, no need to sell houses, open your phone, click follow, and swipe a Carnival. From Chang Xiangyu to Douyin Carnival, seventy-five years, patriotism has turned from tragic to variety show, from the end of one’s resources to “double click 666”.

I once thought this was Professor Shen’s most absurd statement. Later, I looked through his resume and found that my perspective was too narrow.

In July 2021, the Zhengzhou Metro Line 5 flood, 14 people died. The father of the victims wore a raincoat to the scene to mourn his daughter, and the whole network was heartbroken, calling him “Raincoat Dad”. Professor Shen posted a Weibo, meaning: Raincoat, sunglasses, mask, white hat, a father with post-traumatic stress disorder, it’s not easy—why didn’t he come after the list came out?

He seemed to be implying that there was something wrong with the father’s identity.

A father who lost his daughter, wearing a raincoat to mourn. A Fudan professor, in an air-conditioned room, posted a Weibo questioning that he was an actor. This doesn’t require me to make any comments, the picture itself is enough.

In May of the same year, Chang’an Net posted a picture, with the space station being launched on the left and mass cremation in India on the right. Shen Yi retweeted and commented: “This picture is quite good. The temper caused by India’s enchanting bitchiness is also necessary. As for the saint bitches, if you want to brush your feelings, please go to India to burn firewood.” Even Hu Xijin couldn’t stand it and publicly criticized it. Professor Shen’s fans turned around and beat Hu Xijin into a public intellectual.

In the spring of 2022, the streets of Bucha were filled with civilian corpses. Someone asked Professor Shen what he thought, and his meaning was roughly: Didn’t Ukraine issue guns? If guns are issued, they are combatants and are not protected by the Geneva Convention. His original words meant: Didn’t Ukraine issue guns? If guns are issued, they are combatants, not civilians, and do not enjoy the protection of the rights system of the Geneva Convention. Someone translated this into English and spread it all over the world, which is probably Professor Shen’s greatest contribution to international academic exchange.

In August 2021, he pinged a website IP and found that it pointed to Cloudflare—one of the world’s largest CDN service providers, and about one in every three websites you use is behind it—and then posted a Weibo implying that this company was related to “Hong Kong independence”. Some netizens satirized: Teacher Shen Yi calmly took out his phone and took a picture of an old man’s Nike sneakers, and then posted a Weibo “Nike, that’s interesting”.

A professor who takes “cybersecurity” as his research direction seems to not know what a CDN is. This is like a person whose profession is “food critic” doesn’t know that salt is salty.

At the end of 2025, he said with certainty that the United States “couldn’t handle it and didn’t dare to take action” against Venezuela. On January 3, 2026, the US military raided and captured Maduro. Professor Shen rarely made a self-deprecating remark: “You can laugh at me, I’m still too naive, I still believe in the American system too much.”

This is the only time he was right—he was indeed too naive. It’s just that he got the direction of his naivety wrong.

At the end of 2024, he talked about the Taiwan issue, saying that Taiwanese people have a colonial mentality. “What are the characteristics of a colony? You beat him up and it’s right, don’t think too much, because as long as he doesn’t want to die, he will figure it out himself.”

To Taiwan, beat them up. To Japan, swipe gifts. Professor Shen’s diplomatic theory system is complete: use fists against the weak, and use Carnival against the strong.

In 2022, during the Shanghai lockdown, it was reported that Shen Yi wanted to join the community group buying group but was kicked out by his neighbors, and almost ran out of food. The Paper later refuted the rumor, saying it was false. But the reason why this rumor could spread is because all the Shanghai citizens felt it was true—based on Professor Shen’s past speech style, many people thought this was entirely possible.

I also checked, and Professor Shen admitted in an interview in 2015 that he used a paid VPN to bypass the firewall for research, and at the same time he is a staunch supporter of the firewall policy. He bypasses the firewall for research himself, and supports building walls for others. This is not called double standards, this is called—well, to use his own logic—an expert in studying anti-theft doors must learn how to pick locks, otherwise how can he study it?

Professor Shen has millions of fans on Bilibili, millions of Weibo fans, has his own column on Guancha.cn, and has launched a paid course “The Main Characters in the White House” for 108 yuan, with over ten million views. The media commented on him: his eye-catching effect lies in his outspokenness and ability to stir up emotions, rather than his academic ability.

Translate this evaluation into plain language: Professor Shen is an internet celebrity, and at the same time has the title of a Fudan professor.

But please note, it’s most dangerous to happen to have a title. If an ordinary internet celebrity says “swiping gifts can raise military funds”, everyone will laugh it off. But Shen Yi is a professor, doctoral supervisor, deputy dean, and director of the International Governance Research Center of Cyberspace at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University. He has these titles behind every sentence, and these titles provide credibility for his absurd remarks.

This is the real problem. It’s not that a person said something stupid—everyone says stupid things. The problem is that this person has been saying stupid things for ten years, questioning the families of the victims, rationalizing the civilian corpses on the streets of Bucha, not understanding technology and arbitrarily labeling, predicting everything wrong, insulting Taiwan and insulting Japan, and by 2026 is still a Fudan professor, deputy dean, and doctoral supervisor. Not only are there no consequences, but the number of fans is increasing.

There is a kind of People’s Liberation Army that really needs live streaming—not to raise military funds, but to let people like Professor Shen say a few more words in front of the camera. When he’s said enough, the audience will naturally be able to distinguish who is doing things seriously and who is performing patriotism.

In 1951, Chang Xiangyu sang 180 shows and raised a plane. In 2026, Professor Shen’s sentence “Do you believe it or not” couldn’t even raise a bullet. But he raised traffic, which is probably the real purpose.

Professor Shen may be right. After all, in an era when a professor is calling for live streaming to sell patriotism, what else do you expect? The top contributors, get on the account quickly, the Rocket Force is waiting for your Carnival.

It’s just that I always suspect that one thing has been forgotten. It used to be said that raising soldiers was to avoid war. Later, it was said that strengthening the military was also for peace. Now Professor Shen has made it clear—it turns out it’s for war, war requires raising money, raising money requires live streaming, and live streaming requires rewards. This logic is very smooth, but the two words “peace”, I don’t know where Professor Shen put them?