Chinese village thrives on snake business(3)
Each part of the snake is treasured, said store manager Gao Chenchang. China has a strong snake culture, there are a lot of people like in Guangzhou who like to eat snakes.
With such a special product, Zisiqiao's million-dollar business is the envy of other rural communities. But Yang Hongchang said competition is stiff from other breeders who are rearing snakes on a larger scale than his village.
In addition, rearing the snakes comes with obvious risks. The snake farmers said they had been bitten, some by deadly snakes, and were saved only by injection of anti-venom medicine.
Yang Wenfu, 55, gave up rearing species of venomous vipers after being bitten by one of them earlier in his career.
After that, I no longer dared to raise vipers. I am still scared today, he said, adding that his arm grew hugely swollen after the bite.
Life is valuable and making money is secondary.
