He was once hailed as the pride of China. Now nationalists are coming for this Nobel laureate

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They’ve gone after bloggers, journalists, artists, comedians and celebrity chefs. Now, some of China’s most zealous online nationalists have a new target in their crosshairs: the country’s first officially recognized Nobel laureate.

Mo Yan, a novelist best known for his earthy tales of rural life in China, sparked national pride when he became the first Chinese citizen to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012. A top Communist Party official sent a letter of congratulations, hailing his win as a reflection of the rise of Chinese literature and the country’s “overall national strength and international influence.”

More than a decade on, the 69-year-old writer is under fire from a belligerent brand of nationalism that has thrived under Xi Jinping, China’s most authoritarian leader in decades.

Under Xi, the Communist Party has cracked down on dissenting views, including those seen as straying from its official narrative on history. That has spurred a growing army of nationalist commentators to wage a social media crusade against “harmful” comments about the country’s past, especially depictions that cast the party in a less glorious light.

Among those leading the charge is Wu Wanzheng, a self-proclaimed patriotic blogger who goes by the online name of “Truth-Telling Mao Xinghuo.” For over a year, Wu has hurled attacks at Mo and his novels, accusing them of “distorting history” and smearing the Communist Party’s revolutionary legacy.

His campaign drew wide attention last month, when the blogger announced he would sue the celebrated writer, whose