For Anastasia Lin, the breakthrough came shortly after her speech at Oxford University in early February. The 30-year-old Chinese-Canadian actress and beauty pageant winner had been speaking for years about the Chinese Communist Party’s worldwide influence operations, and its human rights abuses.
But she had never received vocal support from her community, she says, until her widely shared speech struck a nerve amidst Beijing’s coronavirus response.
Born in Hunan, China, her family immigrated to Vancouver, B.C. when she was 13. When she started to take acting jobs, almost by accident, some of the roles drew her into a community of Chinese dissidents and human rights advocates.