Canada’s Miss World contestant Anastasia Lin speaks to media after she was denied entry to mainland China, at Hong Kong International Airport in Hong
Kong on Nov 27. (AP)

HONG KONG, Nov 27, (AP): Canada’s outspoken Miss World contestant said she was barred Thursday from entering China to take part in this year’s pageant and accused Beijing of overreach in extending its campaign of censorship even to beauty contests.

Chinese-born Anastasia Lin said she was unable to board her connecting flight from Hong Kong to the southern island province of Hainan 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.

“If they start to censor beauty pageants — how pathetic is that?” Lin said in Hong Kong.

Dressed in black leggings and a belted tan trench coat, Lin was approached by several fellow travelers in the Hong Kong airport arrival hall who wanted to take her photo.