Anastasia Lin, Miss World Canada, wasn’t completely surprised when she was told she couldn’t board a flight to mainland China for the Miss World contest, but that’s not stopping her from being vocal about what she believes is an injustice.
Lin was told she couldn’t board her connecting flight in Hong Kong to Sanya Hainan, the site of the pageant. Her landing visa would be denied on arrival, according to a phone call from a Chinese official.
Lin was born in China and moved to Canada as a teenager. She has been publically critical of China’s religious policies and is currently a member of Falun Gong, a spiritual group that was banned by the Chinese government. Lin’s father still lives in China, and she says he has been harassed by the “security force in China” as a result of his daughter’s words on religious freedom. That doesn’t stop Lin from speaking out even more, however. The beauty queen even wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post about her experiences.
“I think people should know about it. My story is just the tip of (the) iceberg,” Linn told CNN about the incident.
Image via Flickr/Elliott Brown, resized
