Chinese influencer Li Ziqi uploads new videos after a three-year break

Fans of Chinese influencers Li Ziqi woke up on Tuesday, November 12th to a delightful – and extremely unexpected – surprise.

The 34-year-old lifestyle vlogger returned to YouTube after a three-year hiatus with two new videos, shocking her followers who had long wondered if she would ever record again.

“This paint video is four years late,” Li captioned her first upload, which shows her making a paint cabinet door. “The Chinese pronunciation of lacquer is the same as 'Qi'. I named these hidden lacquerware flowers “Zi Qi Dong Lai (the coming auspiciousness)”. … I send this wish to everyone who sees the video, I miss you very much.”

Her second video, also uploaded on Tuesday, shows her turning a wooden shed into a wardrobe.

“I've wanted to have my own wardrobe for many years, in the middle of the forest, surrounded by flowers, where I can lie on the sofa and watch the stars,” she captioned the clip.

It wasn't immediately clear if the videos were filmed recently, but fans were excited to see Li again after her long break.

“LIZIQI posting two new videos after three long, hard years is the equivalent of the sun breaking through and warming a cold, desolate, frozen wasteland. I feel like I'm wrapped in a warm, comforting hug and I'll never kill myself!!!!!!!!!!! !!!” An enthusiastic viewer wrote about X.

Another social media user added: “NEW LIZIQI VIDEO…I JUST FELL TO my knees.”

Li is one of China's most popular influencers and once held the Guinness World Record for most subscribers to a Chinese-language YouTube channel. Before she stopped posting, she had nearly 50 million followers on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. Her YouTube videos, now followed by 20 million subscribers, show her life in rural China as she makes crafts and cooks for herself and her grandma. In one memorable upload, she built a table with a working fountain on it.

However, as of July 2021, Li has been silent on YouTube, leading fans to wonder where she has been or if she has retired from posting. There have been many theories about what happened to her, but the most likely explanation stems from a business dispute between Li and Weinian, the agency that owned a majority stake in her brand.

According to a 2023 article in The New YorkerLi and Weinian sued and countersued each other a total of five times in 2021 and 2022. They reportedly reached an agreement in late 2022 that gave Li more control over her company, but she still didn't release any new videos.

Li has remained tight-lipped about where she has been throughout, but hinted in a social media post on Chinese platform Weibo that she might share more soon.

“I don’t have time to write a short essay today!” she wrote on Tuesday. “I’ll make it up to you when I finish my work in a few days!”