Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma on Wednesday made his first appearance in public since October that gave life to rumours that he could have been detained by the China government. 

Ma met 100 rural teachers in China through a live video link Wednesday morning, a move that triggered a sharp rise in the value of shares of e-commerce giant listed in Hong Kong.

In the 50-second video, Ma is seen dressed in a navy pullover and speaking to the camera from a room but he failed to disclose his exact location.

“We cannot meet in Sanya due to the epidemic. When the epidemic is over, we must find time to make up for everyone's trip to Sanya, and then we will meet again,” Ma said in the video.

Earlier this month, questions arose over his whereabouts following reports that he missed the last episode of a TV show on which he was a judge, amid a clampdown by China on his empire.

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Before Wednesday, Ma had not been seen in public since October 24, when he criticized China's regulatory regime at a forum in Shanghai.

His remarks put him on a collision path with Chinese government officials resulting in the suspension of a $37-billion IPO of Ant Group, a financial affiliate of his Alibaba company.

Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Group confirmed that the Chinese billionaire took part in the annual Rural Teacher Initiative event held online on Wednesday morning.

Ma’s Alibaba is said to be planning to raise at least $5 billion through sale of a US dollar-denominated bond end of January.

China last month launched an anti-trust investigation into Alibaba as the Asian giant fast tracked her crackdown on alleged anticompetitive behaviour in her booming internet space.