SEOUL - Following the crackdown by the authorities in China on celebrities and fan culture, the Chinese fan club of K-pop boy band member Jimin has been suspended by Weibo on Sunday (Sept 5).

The social media giant banned the account, Jimin Bar, from posting for 60 days, saying it had violated its rules with its crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to celebrate Jimin's 26th birthday on Oct 13.

The fan club had raised a record-breaking 1 million yuan (S$208,000) in three minutes when it launched its campaign in April and had collected 2.3 million yuan after one hour.

With the money raised, the fan club collaborated with South Korean airline Jeju Air to customise the exterior of a plane from Sept 1 to Nov 30.

The plane tickets and cups on board were also customised to say "Happy Jimin Day".

In addition, the fan club had also taken out advertisements which will appear in The New York Times in the United States and The Times in Britain on Jimin's birthday.

On its Twitter account, which is still active, it claimed this will be "the world's first fan support to appear in both The New York Times and The Times at the same time with the largest scale and promotion".