🌏 Poland's Huge, Unprecedented Pro-Democracy Protest Explained, China's "Greasy Men" Challenge And More

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On Sunday June 4, more than 500,000 people took to the streets of Warsaw to protest against Poland’s right-wing government run by the Law and Justice Party, also known as PiS.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Also Happening Around The World

🇮🇳 Three trains collided in India and at least 275 people are dead and more than 1,175 others have been injured in India.

🇭🇰 Hong Kong police detained more than 20 people for trying to remember China’s Tiananmen Square massacre.

🇨🇦 Canada is facing its most severe fire season in history as more than 413 active wildfires, including 249 deemed out of control, are raging across the country.

🇦🇫 Nearly 90 Afghan schoolgirls have been poisoned in another attack on their education.

Young women in China are taking part in a viral challenge that involves imitating “greasy men”.

The video trend began in late April on the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin, when a Chinese woman influencer, Fangtouming (方头明), posted a series of videos imitating stereotypical “greasy” men.

She went viral with her “self-centered high school boy” persona, in which she makes fun of girl classmates’ appearances, jumps up and touches door frames and verbally harasses women teachers.

One of the most popular videos was one where she imitated men who take photos of women on the subway without permission.

Other women then jumped on the trend, copying “greasy” male behavior such as rubbing their chin, raising their eyebrows, biting their lips and sticking their tongues out.

Some of the videos even portray how men subconsciously make inappropriate physical contact with women, illustrating the issues that most women are forced to confront in their everyday lives.

“This imitation is a mirror, forcing men to see who they are and reflect how they present themselves in daily life, which has been normalized in the collective unconsciousness,” Zhang Nian, a philosophy professor at Tongji University and a pioneer scholar in feminist theory, told Sixth Tone. “I’d say this trend is a social drama or a social sculpture.”

More Women You Should Know About

🇭🇰 In a rare win for press freedom in Hong Kong, Bao Choy, a journalist who was found guilty of a crime after she used a public database for a piece critical of Hong Kong Police, had her conviction overturned.

🇨🇦 Delaney Irving, a 19-year-old Canadian woman, fell and was knocked unconscious during a cheese-rolling race in the UK but still won.

A Taiwanese Taoist master captured the hearts of many after sharing a video of him handling a special request at work — warding off evil spirits on a baby corgi.

In the video shot at a temple in Taoyuan, the master, Hsiao Ming, can be seen holding the dog in one hand and a handful of incense in the other while performing the ritual of siu-kiann.

Siu-kiann – which means dispelling shock in Taiwanese Hokkien – is a Taoist treatment that is usually performed on humans who have gone through a scare or trauma or children who behave poorly for no apparent reason.

The rite is believed to help dispel shock and fright and usually involves a master chanting, tapping and waving incense to help the person release any negative energy they may have accumulated.

After a visit to the veterinarian and the siu-kiann, the corgi’s owner said the dog is feeling much better and regained its appetite.

“I started training for Taoist rituals about two years ago,” Hsiao Ming, who also works as a mechanic, told Almost. “I vowed that if the Gods granted my wishes at the time, I would dedicate my life to practicing rituals on behalf of them.”

“At our temple, we believe that all lives are equal, so any creature with spirituality is welcome here,” Chiu Chiu, another woman master at the temple, told Almost.

She said the temple has also performed the ritual on cats, rabbits, parrots and turtles.

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