Four Australian members of a spiritual group have been expelled from China two days after their arrest.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says all four have now left for Hong Kong.
The four were amongst a group of practitioners of the Falong Gong spiritual movement detained for organising a gathering in southern China on Thursday.
China banned the organisation in July, after it staged a silent 10,000 strong protest in Beijing in April.
A spokesman for Foreign Affairs said two Sydney women who had been detained since Thursday left for Hong Kong late last night, while two others left this morning.
No further details are available.

Two Australian members of a spiritual group, who were arrested this week in southern China, are likely to be released today.
The two Sydney women Jiang Hiu Jie and Jiang Xi Li were arrested with two other practitioners on the outskirts of Guangzhou on Thursday.
They had arrived in China two weeks ago to lend support to Falun Gong followers, the 100 million strong spiritual movement which China banned in July calling it an evil cult.
An American practitioner arrested with the Australian women was released and deported on Friday.

HONG KONG, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Chinese police have freed a Swede who was detained this week along with 14 followers of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said on Friday.
The Information Centre of Human Rights & Democratic Movement said Anna Hakosalo was freed on Thursday night and was on her way back to her current home in Dalin city in northeast China.
The rights group said the 14 people, including another three foreigners, were still being detained.
The other foreigners were American Sun Jie and Australians Jiang Huijie and Jiang Xili. They are ethnic Chinese, it said.
Police burst in on their meeting in southern Guangzhou city on Thursday and their whereabouts were now unknown, the group said, adding the four foreigners were questioned in a hotel.
The Chinese government banned the Falun Gong in July and has vowed to wipe out what it sees as a threat to communist rule.
More than 100 Falun Gong leaders have been formally arrested. Many more are under various forms of administrative detention, like labour camps, which are not subject to the judicial process.

BEIJING--Police in the southern city of Guangzhou detained a U.S. citizen who was meeting with Chinese followers of the banned Falun Gong sect, a U.S. official said today.
Jie Sun, a Chinese American software engineer and Falun Gong adherent from Colorado who recently was working in the Washington area, was detained Wednesday along 14 fellow practitioners, according to a friend of Sun's and a human rights group. The friend, Xiaowei Xia of Denver, said he received a frantic cell phone call from Sun after she was detained.
The U.S. State Department has been in contact with the Chinese Foreign Ministry about the detention, a U.S. consular spokesman said. U.S. officials were trying to determine if Sun has been released, he said. Police in Guangzhou refused to comment.
The Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said Sun, 36, was taken into custody along with one Swede, two Australians, and 11 Chinese citizens. Xia said Sun went to China between Oct. 31 and Nov. 7 in a show of support for the banned breathing and meditation group.

BEIJING, Nov 26, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) The fight against the Chinese spiritual sect Falungong will be a "long and arduous struggle," the country's official press declared Friday.
In an editorial quoted by the state news agency Xinhua, the People's Daily said: "All evidence indicates that (Falungong leader) Li Hongzhi and his followers will not stop their illegal activities.
"The fight against Falungong is thus a long-term and arduous struggle. Painstaking efforts must therefore be made to keep blind followers at bay from Falungong's pernicious influence."
The newspaper also accused the sect of joining with "anti-China forces overseas in an attempt to oppose the Chinese government." Li is currently living in New York.
China considers Falungong the biggest threat to its monolithic rule and to social stability since the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstrations. Last month, the government expanded the powers of courts to prosecute members for a variety of offences.
Human rights groups estimate more than 2,000 Falungong members are serving sentences at labour camps in China and believe the number is increasing every day.
They were arrested and sentenced after China outlawed the group in July, following a 10,000-strong protest staged by followers in Beijing in April. The group focuses on traditional Chinese meditation (qigong) and advocates high moral values.
On Friday, the People's Daily repeated much of the rhetoric that has characterised Beijing's vitriolic campaign against the sect and prompted international alarm.
In the editorial headlined "Exposing and Fighting Falungong to the End", the paper said "a number of facts unequivocally reveal that Falungong is not an organization of qigong practitioners, but an illegal organization with political motives that seriously undermines the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the government."
Falungong was a "cult opposed to science, humanity, society and the government," it said.
"From the very beginning, Falungong leaders have instigated and misled a number of Falungong practitioners to attack the party and government institutions, as well as media units, seriously endangering Chinese society." The state news agency Xinhua said the paper stressed the crackdown was a "serious ideological and political struggle which is closely linked to the future and fate of China and the party.
"Anyone underestimating the seriousness and complexity of the fight and struggle to contain and eliminate the cult will lead to historical mistakes and criminal offences."
While the majority of sect followers were "waking up to their errors," the paper said people should remain "on their guard" as there were still "a handful of crazy cult practitioners." Human rights group believe China will rush through trials for some 300 Falungong leaders before the Macau handover on December 20.
The Portuguese enclave is due to return to Chinese sovereignty at midnight on December 19, ending 443 years of Portuguese administration. The government considers the event a source of great national pride.

BEIJING, Nov. 26 (Kyodo) - Chinese police have detained two Australians, an American and a Swede while breaking up a gathering of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said Friday.
The four foreigners were picked up with 11 Chinese Falun Gong practitioners Thursday in the southern city of Guangzhou, said the Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China.
Police are waiting for instructions before deciding what to do with Australians Jiang Huijie and Jiang Xili, American Sun Jie and Swede Anna Hakosalo, the center said.
While police reportedly questioned the foreigners at a hotel, the Chinese practitioners were taken to a detention center, it said.
An officer with Australia's Guangzhou consulate said she was following the matter up with Chinese authorities, while a U.S. Embassy officer in Beijing said he could not discuss the matter because of privacy issues.
Since Falun Gong was banned in July, countless numbers of practitioners have been detained and warned to give up their belief in the eclectic mixture of traditional Chinese breathing exercises and a combination of Buddhist and Taoist philosophies.

HONG KONG, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Chinese police have freed a Swede who was detained this week along with 14 followers of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said on Friday.
The Information Centre of Human Rights & Democratic Movement said Anna Hakosalo was freed on Thursday night and was on her way back to her current home in Dalin city in northeast China.
The rights group said the 14 people, including another three foreigners, were still being detained.
The other foreigners were American Sun Jie and Australians Jiang Huijie and Jiang Xili. They are ethnic Chinese, it said.
Police burst in on their meeting in southern Guangzhou city on Thursday and their whereabouts were now unknown, the group said, adding the four foreigners were questioned in a hotel.
The Chinese government banned the Falun Gong in July and has vowed to wipe out what it sees as a threat to communist rule.
More than 100 Falun Gong leaders have been formally arrested. Many more are under various forms of administrative detention, like labour camps, which are not subject to the judicial process.

SHANGHAI, China (AP) - Police detained an American, two Australians and a Swedish student in southern China at a gathering of the banned sect Falun Gong, a human rights group and diplomats said today.
The foreigners were among 15 Falun Gong practitioners picked up Thursday in the city of Guangzhou, near Hong Kong, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China.
Thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been detained since the communist government banned the multimillion-member meditation group in July as a threat to their power. Some have been sentenced to up to 12 years in prison, and more are awaiting trial. Hundreds if not thousands of others reportedly have been sent without trial to labor camps.
The main Communist Party newspaper People's Daily accused the sect today of plotting with ``foreign anti-China forces,'' but didn't mention the detained foreigners.
The Information Center identified the American as Sun Jie, 30, a Chinese-born software engineer. It said the Australians were Jiang Xili and Jiang Zhaohui.
The fourth, 31-year-old Anne Hakosalo of Sweden, was released Thursday after 10 hours in custody, said Rigmor Petterson, a Swedish diplomat in Beijing.
Hakosalo was not charged with a crime and was preparing to return to northeastern China, where she is studying at Dalian University, Petterson said.
Hakosalo told the Finnish Broadcasting Co. that police did not tell her why she was detained, but took her passport and would not let her contact the Swedish Embassy.
While police were present, a 24-year-old woman who had just told about how she had been tortured previously in detention fell and hit her head on a cement wall and was unconscious, Hakosalo said in a statement distributed by New York-based Falun Gong spokeswoman Gail Raichlin.
Hakosalo said she did not see what caused the incident or know what happened to the woman.
Authorities in Guangzhou confirmed that an American was taken in for questioning but did not disclose the reason or the person's name, said Mark Canning of the U.S. Consulate in that city.
The Australian consulate in Guangzhou said it was trying to confirm reports an Australian was detained.
Guangzhou police contacted by telephone said they didn't know about the detentions.
Falun Gong has shown unusual resilience in the face of the crackdown, gathering in secret and at one point holding a press conference with foreign reporters. Police have rounded up more than 1,000 members who have made their way to Beijing to appeal for an end to the ban.
Falun Gong was founded by former government clerk Li Hongzhi, who now lives in New York City.
Drawing from Buddhism and Taoism, Falun Gong is a form of qigong, a popular Chinese meditation and exercise discipline meant to improve well-being by tapping unseen forces. Sect members say it makes them healthier and more moral.
The front-page People's Daily commentary accused Falun Gong leaders of trying to overthrow the government. Falun Gong leaders have denied subversion accusations.

HONG KONG, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Chinese police have detained 15 followers of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, including an American, a Swede and two Australians, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said on Friday.
Police burst in on their meeting in the southern city of Guangzhou on Thursday afternoon and their whereabouts were now unknown, said the Information Centre of Human Rights & Democratic Movement in China.
The centre quoted a source as saying that the four foreigners -- Swede Anna Hakosalo, American Sun Jie and Australians Jiang Huijie and Jiang Xili -- were being questioned in an unnamed hotel. The latter three are ethnic Chinese, the centre said.
The Chinese government banned the Falun Gong in July and has vowed to wipe out what it sees as a threat to communist rule.
More than 100 Falun Gong leaders have been formally arrested. Many more are under various forms of administrative detention, such as labour camps, which are not subject to the judicial process.

HONG KONG, Nov 25, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) A Falungong leader who allegedly created one of the largest collections of video and audio cassettes promoting the spiritual sect's teachings has been formally charged, a human rights group said Thursday.

Xu Jinliang, a resident of the eastern Chinese province of Shandong, is facing a sentence of at least 10 years for allegedly creating 4.3 million cassette tapes, the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said.

He was recently charged with using an evil religion to destroy laws and being involved in an illegal business.

Xu also allegedly transfered one million yuan (120,000 dollars) into an account for the Falungong group.

He worked as a manager at the Shandong Youth Science, Technology and Culture Service Center.

Meanwhile, four people who published Falungong books in Nanning city in the southern province of Guangxi were put on trial for seven hours Thursday, but the court adjourned without a verdict, the information center said.

Arrested in August, they face charges of conducting illegal business for operating three factories which printed 50,000 Falungong books and 5,000 portraits of sect founder Li Hongzhi.

They face sentences of three to seven years.

The information center said the Chinese government will rush through trials for some 300 Falungong leaders or diehard believers in the coming month, as it tries to deal with potential "troublemakers" in the runup to the Macau handover on December 20.

The Portuguese enclave is due to return to Chinese sovereignty at midnight on December 19, ending 442 years of Portuguese administration. The government considers the event a source of great national pride.

The information center estimates more than 2,000 Falungong members are serving sentences at labor camps and believe the number is increasing. They were arrested and sentenced after China outlawed the group in July, following a 10,000-strong protest the group staged in Beijing in April.

China considers Falungong the biggest threat to its political power and to social stability since the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy demonstrations. Last month, the government expanded the powers of the courts to prosecute members for a variety of offenses.

The group focuses on traditional Chinese meditation and advocates high moral values.

SHANGHAI, China (AP) - Four followers of Falun Gong went on trial Thursday on charges of illegally publishing 50,000 books for the banned Chinese sect, a human rights group said.
The court in the southern city of Nanning did not announce a verdict at the end of a seven-hour trial, said the Hong Kong-based Information Center of Human rights and Democratic Movement in China.
The trial is part of mounting legal action against the sect, which China's communist government banned in July and considers a serious threat to its power.
Members have been sentenced to up to 12 years in prison. The Information Center, which is well informed about Chinese legal and dissident activity, says as many as 2,000 sect members have been sent to labor camps.
On trial Thursday were Tan Min, a travel service employee, and three printing plant managers - Hu Guodong, Huang Shubai and Li Lin - the center said in a statement.
They were arrested in August and accused of printing books and 5,000 pictures of sect leader Li Hongzhi, the center said. They face up to seven years in prison if convicted.
The center also said a Falun Gong follower in eastern China has been chargedwith illegally producing 4.3 million audio and video recordings.
Xu Jinliang was the manager of the Shandong Youth Science and Technology Culture Service Center in the Shandong provincial capital of Jinan in eastern China.
There was no indication of when Xu might be brought to court.