China's top livestreamer resurfaces 3 months after his show was cut short as he was showing off a military tank-shaped cake on the eve of the Tiananmen massacre

• China's top influencer Li Jiaqi's livestream was cut short after he showed off a tank-shaped cake.
• The incident took place on June 3, a day before the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.

Three months after his show was abruptly cut short one day before the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, China's top livestreamer has resurfaced online.

On June 3, Austin Li Jiaqi — also known as the Lipstick King — was showing off a plate of ice cream decorated with Oreo cookies and a chocolate stick, which looked like a military tank when assembled. This sparked speculation that Li was taken offline for displaying taboo content at a sensitive time.

Li attributed the sudden stop to a technical error, but he didn't show up at a scheduled live stream on June 5 and remained offline until the evening of September 20. The influencer has more than 64 million followers on Alibaba's livetreaming platform.

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The tank is a sensitive symbol because one of the most iconic photos of defiance from the 1989 crackdown depicts a lone man, dubbed "Tank Man," standing in front of a tank to block its path. Even today, China routinely censors references to the incident.

Li's return to Alibaba's Taobao Live platform on Tuesday evening was met with enthusiasm, with 50 million viewers tuning in to watch by its second hour, according to SCMP. He hawked products from skincare to underwear, most of which sold out immediately, per the media outlet. Li even had to call for calm, asking his viewers to "shop rationally," the SCMP reported.

Li's return to livestreaming will be a boost for ecommerce giant Alibaba leading up to Singles' Day — China's annual shopping extravaganza — on November 11, said Jacob Cooke, the cofounder and CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, an e-commerce consultancy. "His popular livestreams and associated discounts will be a major draw for Tmall as it fends of a challenge from Douyin," Cooke told Insider. He was referring to Alibaba's ecommerce platform and the Chinese version of TikTok, respectively.

The ecommerce giant has already lost another top livestreamer, Viya, whose accounts went offline after a tax evasion scandal last year. Viya, who was known for hosting a popular shopping stream on the e-commerce platform Taobao, is still missing in action.

Li did not immediately respond to a request from Insider for comment sent via his agency, Meione.