Shan Sa is the pseudonym of Yan Ni (born October 26, 1972, in Beijing, China), a French author and painter.

The Girl Who Played Go was the first of her novels to be published outside France, and won the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens (a prize voted by secondary school students).

She adopted the pseudonym Shan Sa from a poem by the Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi.

After graduating from secondary school in Beijing, she moved to Paris in August 1990 thanks to a grant by the French government.

In 2001 she reached the top of her success with the publication of her most famous book so far, The Girl Who Played Go (La Joueuse de Go in French).