An actress who was crowned Miss World Canada has been barred from entering China after she spoke out about rights abuses in the country, it has been claimed.
Chinese-born Anastacia Lin had travelled to Hong Kong but was prevented from boarding a connecting flight to Sanya in the southern Chinese island of Hainan, friend Caylan Ford told Associated Press. She was intending to compete in the beauty pageant finals.
Twenty-five-year-old Ms Lin, who lives in Toronto, had failed to obtain a visa ahead of her arrival in Asia, but had hoped to enter mainland China on a landing visa, reports said.
A Twitter account which appears to be used by Ms Lin said on Thursday: "I'm in Hong Kong, but the Chinese government has barred me from getting the next flight to Sanya for Miss World."
Ms Lin is a critic of Beijing's far-ranging crackdown on religion and a follower of Falun Gong, which is deemed a dangerous religious cult by China's Communist leaders.
Falun Gong is a mixture of Chinese yoga with philosophy drawn from Buddhism, Taoism and the often unorthodox teachings of Li Hongzhi, its founder.
The beauty queen said previously that her father, who still lives in China, had been warned by local officials after she began to speak out about abuses in the country.
Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper claimed Ms Lin had not received an official invitation from Beijing to take part in the Miss World contest and could therefore not process her visa.
It quoted an embassy official in Ottawa saying: "China does not allow any persona non grata to come to China. I simply do not understand why some people pay special attention to this matter and have raised it repeatedly."
Ms Lin moved to Canada with her mother in 2003 while her father remained in her native Hunan, in central China.
She has appeared in films about the abuse of Falun Gong members, and has also spoken about the subject to a US Congressional committee in July.
Falun Gong was outlawed in China in 1999 and human rights groups say tens of thousands of its members have been detained. Some say they have been tortured for refusing to give up their beliefs.
Ms Lin claims Miss World organisers will let her retain her Miss World Canada title for the 2016 contest, which is taking place in South Korea.
The Telegraph, London
