Miss Canada hit by China ban for criticizing religious policy

Canada’s outspoken Miss World contestant said she was barred from entering China to take part in this year’s pageant in the island province of Hainan.

Chinese-born Anastasia Lin said she was unable to board her connecting flight from Hong Kong after a Chinese official told her by telephone that she would not be granted a visa on arrival.

Lin is an outspoken critic of Chinese religious policy and a follower of the Falun Gong meditation practice, which was outlawed by China’s ruling Communist Party in 1999.