Since China began frantic efforts to curb a coronavirus epidemic in late January, residents in the tiny snake breeding village of Zisiqiao have had to come to terms with a ban on wildlife trading, its lifeline for decades.
Zisiqiao employed hundreds of people to breed three million snakes a year. Now, the rows of wooden slats that housed the captive reptiles stand empty, and abandoned.
The Chinese character for "snake" has even been removed from the sign on the front wall of a specialty snake meat restaurant on the village's edge.