Justin Bieber joins Weibo. Is his China ban lifted?

Hey, Justin Bieber is on Chinese social media!

The Canadian mega pop star was banned from performing in China in 2017 by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture, which — in response to a disgruntled Chinese Belieber venting about the artist skipping China in his world tour — stated that the singer was not welcome anymore after engaging in “a series of bad behaviors both in his social life abroad and during a previous performance in China,” causing widespread “dissatisfaction among the public.”

Now that two years have passed, it appears that the ban might have been lifted, at least partially, as Bieber joined Sina Weibo last week (in Chinese) and has been pretty active on the microblogging platform since. However, there are no reports of an upcoming Bieber show in mainland China.

Calling himself a “famous Canadian singer” in the bio, Bieber made his first Weibo post on July 17. “Hello to my fans! I am excited to share updates from my life with all of you on Weibo!” he wrote.

In the days that ensued, Bieber blessed his Chinese fans with good content, including a “happy weekend” greeting, a photo of himself to promote his new streetwear label Drew House, and a video of the remix version of Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy,” a song that he is featured on.

In less than a week, Bieber has already racked up more than 1 million Weibo followers. Yesterday, he even made an announcement about his Weibo debut on Twitter, a social media platform that has been officially blocked in China since 2009.

For all my fans in China I just wanted to say that I am super excited to be on Weibo. Look forward to sharing more. Some good music coming. pic.twitter.com/eTVXnKqyrJ

— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) July 24, 2019

The summer of 2017 was an extremely tough one for Bieber, even before the China ban: A fan pelted him with a water bottle during a concert in Stockholm, he hit a 57-year-old paparazzo with his car, and hackers released nude photos of him on the internet. These moments added up and led to an apology from Bieber, in which he said he would work hard to be “a man that learns from his past mistakes and grows from them.”

After that wild summer, the public has seen positive changes from the singer, who’s now in love and into spirituality. It’s likely that Chinese officials are aware of the transformation, too. With Bieber making his way back onto the Chinese internet, there’s reason to suspect that a Bieber concert in China might be on the horizon.