ANNA Lo's partner, Gavin Millar, recently came back from a business trip to England to discover "that we'd both joined the Alliance party and Anna was standing for election".

Lo (56) surprised the traditional parties, too, when she polled strongly in South Belfast, becoming the first elected Chinese politician in the North, Britain and the Republic.

Usually, Chinese people keep their head downs in the North, where racism has been rife.

Several Chinese businessmen in Belfast advised Lo not to run. "But I was determined to give a voice to all the ethnic minorities here and show that more than just orange and green politics matters in Northern Ireland, " she says.

On police advice, Lo carried a personal alarm when canvassing in South Belfast, the constituency which has witnessed the most racist attacks.

Her photograph appeared on a far-right website, beside pornographic images of two naked Chinese women and an article about prostitution. There were also racist remarks such as "go home chink".

Lo found it "offensive and obscene" but wasn't deterred from her campaign, and stresses that only a minority hold such views and most people were hugely supportive.

Born in Hong Kong, she moved to Belfast 33 years ago when she married a local man. They have since divorced. She has two grownup sons.

She has worked as a freelance BBC journalist and is a former president of the Chinese Welfare Assocation.

She has previously suffered physical assault on the street by racists.

A woman also visited Lo's office to tell her she shouldn't be standing for election because she wasn't British and didn't speak English properly.

She relaxes by going on long walks with Gavin and their golden labrador, Pippa, or driving in their classic white Triumph TR4.