Xinshi Town () is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in Deqing County of Huzhou

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of China' ...

, in China's

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

Province. Xinshi is located about 30 km north-east of the provincial capital,

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

. Xinshi Town's Zisiqiao Village (子思桥; ), nicknamed the "Snake Village" by the media, is renowned as a center of

snake farm A snake farm is a facility that houses and breeds a wide variety of snakes, often for the purpose of research and the collection of venom for the creation of antivenom. Many snake farms are primarily tourist attractions. Notable snake farms exist ...

ing. The locals have been raising snakes since ca. 1985; currently, about 800 people in Zisiqiao work in snake farming industry, raising some 3 million snakes a year. Live snakes are supplied to specialty restaurants; dried or preserved in

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

, they are sold to manufacturers of

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action ...

s; snake-infused wine is made as well. China's 'Snake Village' seeks New Year riches
AFP, 2013-02-10 Deqing Snake Culture Museum is a local tourist attraction.蛇文化博物馆可以让你看得“头皮发麻”
(Snake Culture Museum will make your hair stand on end), 2012-05-07

References

Township-level divisions of Zhejiang Huzhou {{zhejiang-geo-stub