A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman says 53 foreign Falun Gong members have been expelled for a protest in Beijing against a government crackdown on the religious sect.
They were detained in Beijing's central Tiananmen Square, says the spokeswoman, who gave only her family name, Qiu.
Police had initially said that more than 40 foreign Falun Gong members were detained in the protest.
The protest was the biggest yet by foreign followers against Beijing's brutal suppression of Falun Gong, which was outlawed in July 1999 as a threat to social order and communist rule.
The Foreign Office says an 18-year-old British schoolboy is among those set to be deported from China. A-level student Alexander Rostron has not been in touch with his family in Leeds, West Yorkshire, since the demonstration in Tiananmen Square.
His mother, Gaydor Kaye, says she is increasingly worried about the Leeds Grammar School pupil as he has not been named among four arrested Britons who were deported on Thursday.
The Foreign Office says the Chinese authorities had confirmed they are holding Mr Rostron, and say he will be deported over the next few days.
Qiu says six of those detained on Thursday remain in police custody because they carried no passports and refuse to identify themselves