Remember the Canadian beauty Anastasia Lin who was refused a visa to compete at the Miss World 2015 pageant held in China? Anastasia, who was declared a persona non grata by Chinese authorities for her outspoken views on the country’s human rights violations and persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, is now back to compete at the Miss World 2016 pageant. But sadly, the beauty queen has been denied support from the current Miss World Canada franchise.
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Problems don’t seem to end for this beauty, but as a strong and determined contender, Anastasia isn’t willing to give up. Anastasia has started a Go Fund Me page to fund her way to Miss World 2016 in Washington, District of Columbia. On her page, Anastasia mentioned that as a beauty queen she has used this platform to bring attention to some of the worst human rights abuses in the world—particularly in China. However, she further adds that advocating for human rights is not exactly lucrative.
Since the Miss World Canada Organisation has cut off their support to Anastasia, the expenses to compete at the pageant are piling up on the beauty. Pageant contestants are expected to pay for their personal training, evening gowns, photography sessions, production costs for videos, promotional costs, airfare, hair and makeup, among other things. Therefore, Anastasia is urging her fans to donate to support her finance all the requirements.
“I realize that to many people, supporting a beauty pageant contestant may seem frivolous. But this platform has genuinely enabled me to speak out about issues of immense importance. In particular, I think that my efforts to bring attention to forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience including Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetans, Uyghurs and other vulnerable groups has increased the visibility of this issue,” says Anastasia. She further added, “I can't promise to win in Washington, DC, but I can promise that I'll keep going no matter what and that I'll seize this moment to make sure all our voices are heard. It would be my great privilege to have your support.”
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What do you think? Are you ready to lend your support to Anastasia Lin? Let us know in the comment section below...