Too late to say sorry? Justin Bieber's been banned from China

"Justin Bieber is a gifted singer, but he is also a controversial young foreign singer," Beijing's Culture Bureau says, replying to fan-asked question on the bureau's website. "In order to maintain order in the Chinese market and purify the Chinese performance environment, it is not suitable to bring in badly behaved entertainers. We hope that as Justin Bieber matures, he can continue to improve his own words and actions, and truly become a singer beloved by the public."

Bieber's drawn ire in China before - in 2014 he posted a snap of a visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, a controversial memorial that China, South Korea, North Korea, and Taiwan see - as per Wikipedia - as "a microcosm of a revisionist and unapologetic approach to Japanese crimes of World War II."

In 2013 Bieber was also caught being carried across the Great Wall Of China - less obviously offensive perhaps, but he was duly mocked for his not-very-rockstar antics.

Björk, Maroon 5, Oasis, and Lady Gaga are other artists that have been prohibited from performing in the Asian nation over the years - usually because they've been voicing support for Tibetan independence or the Dalai Lama.

Bieber is performing in Asia from September as part of his lengthy Purpose world tour, with dates booked in Hong Kong, Japan, The Philippines, Singapore, and Indonesia.