Xinshi Town () is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in Deqing County of

Huzhou Huzhou (, ; Huzhou dialect: Romanization of Wu Chinese, ''ghou² cieu¹'') is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province (Hangzhou–Jiaxing–Huzhou Plain, China). Lying south of the Lake Tai, it borders Jiaxing to the east, Hangzho ...

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

, in China's

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

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

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

. 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 snake venom, venom for the creation of antivenom. Many snake farms are primarily tourist attractions. Notable sna ...

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 may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

, they are sold to manufacturers of

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...

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