SANYA, China  (The Adobo Chronicles) – Sometimes, life imitates satire.  We’re previously reported about countries – the Philippines included — being banned from international beauty pageants for various reasons. This time, China banned Miss Canada from participating in the just-concluded 2015 Miss World held in Sanya, China.

Anastasia Lin, who was born in China and moved to Canada as a teen, was supposed to represent Canada at the international pageant.  However, she never stepped foot in Sanya because she was barred from boarding her connecting flight in Hong Kong.

The reason?

Lin is an ouspoken critic of China’s religious and human rights policies.  She believes in Falun Gong, a spiritual group that is banned in China because the government considers it a cult.

Amid all its bullying in the South China Sea, where it claims territorial jurisdiction over islands that other Southeast Asian countries say belong to them, the Chinese government, after all, has displayed an unusual weakness — afraid of a beauty queen.