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Twins Marry Twins, Seek Plastic Surgery To Tell Who's Who

The two Zhao brothers and their wives, the Yuan sisters
The two Zhao brothers and their wives, the Yuan sisters

It sounds like the makings of a bad sitcom.

In China's northern Shanxi province, twin sisters married twin brothers, but uncomfortable mix-ups have led them to seek minor surgery to avoid confusing their respective partners, China News reports.

According to the newspaper, a matchmaker fixed up the two Zhao brothers with the Yuan sisters over a year ago. They come from villages just 10 kilometers apart. After a year of dating, the two couples decided on the same day to get married — the elder brother with the elder sister, and the younger brother with the younger sister, naturally.

The two couples even live together in the same house, though on different floors, according to the local Shanxi Evening Post.

But because the brothers and sisters are so alike — even down to their voices and facial expressions — the couples frequently make mistakes in addressing themselves to their spouses.

"It's particularly difficult when it gets dark," one of the Zhao brothers said. "Recently one evening after dinner, we all decided to go for a walk. But when I took the hand of my wife and turned around, I suddenly realized that she was my sister-in-law!"

Tired of the confusion, and keen to avoid even greater embarrassments, the two couples decided during their honeymoons to undergo minor plastic surgery on their face.

They went to a clinic in Shanghai, which gathered together a special team, including a plastic surgery expert, a surgeon and a dermatologist, to help the couples.

The doctors believe minor surgery will successfully mean "they can easily identify each other hereafter."

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Society

Influencer Union? The Next Labor Rights Battle May Be For Social Media Creators

With the end of the Hollywood writers and actors strikes, the creator economy is the next frontier for organized labor.

​photograph of a smartphone on a selfie stick

Smartphone on a selfie stick

Steve Gale/Unsplash
David Craig and Stuart Cunningham

Hollywood writers and actors recently proved that they could go toe-to-toe with powerful media conglomerates. After going on strike in the summer of 2023, they secured better pay, more transparency from streaming services and safeguards from having their work exploited or replaced by artificial intelligence.

But the future of entertainment extends well beyond Hollywood. Social media creators – otherwise known as influencers, YouTubers, TikTokers, vloggers and live streamers – entertain and inform a vast portion of the planet.

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For the past decade, we’ve mapped the contours and dimensions of the global social media entertainment industry. Unlike their Hollywood counterparts, these creators struggle to be seen as entertainers worthy of basic labor protections.

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