China’s Top Livestreamer Resurfaces 3 Months After Showing Tank Cake

• Chinese internet celebrity Li Jiaqi’s livestream was interrupted after showing off a tank-shaped cake.
• The incident occurred on June 3, the day before the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre Remembrance Day.
• Lee blamed a technical error for the sudden stop, but there is speculation that he was censored.

three months later The program is suddenly interrupted A day before the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, China’s top streamer has resurfaced online.

On June 3, lipstick king Austin Li Jiaqi showed a plate of ice cream decorated with Oreo cookies and chocolate bars, assembled like a military tank. This sparked speculation that Lee was taken offline for posting taboo content at a sensitive time.

Lee attributes the sudden stop to technical error, but he didn’t show up Scheduled to live on June 5th And has been offline until the evening of September 20. The influencer has more than 64 million followers on Alibaba’s livestreaming platform.

The tank is a sensitive symbol because one of the most iconic photos of the defiance from the 1989 crackdown depicts a lone man known as “Tank Man” standing in front of the tank blocking its path. even today, China often censors A reference to the event.

Li’s return to Alibaba’s Taobao live-streaming platform on Tuesday night was greeted with enthusiasm, with 50 million viewers tuned in by the second hour, according to reports. South China Morning Post. He peddled products ranging from skincare to underwear, most of which sold out immediately, according to media reports. According to the South China Morning Post, Li even had to appeal for calm, asking his viewers to “shop rationally.”

Ahead of Singles’ Day, China’s annual shopping extravaganza, on Nov. 11, Li Keqiang is back, said Jacob Cooke, co-founder and CEO of e-commerce consultancy WPIC Marketing + Technologies. The livestreaming will be a boost for e-commerce giant Alibaba. “His popular livestreams and related discounts will be a major draw for Tmall as it fends off challenges from Douyin,” Cook told Insider. He was referring to Alibaba’s e-commerce platform and the Chinese version of TikTok, respectively.

The e-commerce giant has lost another top live-streamer, Viya, whose account was taken offline after a tax evasion scandal last year. Wei Ya, known for hosting popular shopping streams on e-commerce platform Taobao, is still missing.

Li did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment through his agency Meione.