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Erika Na

From snake-themed events to whether your luck is in: discover all you need to know about the coming Lunar New Year in our Year of the Snake 2025 series.
A whole snake submerged in a bottle of liquor is, for many, not the most appealing or appetising sight.
In certain parts of Asia, however, this promises something that everyone could do with having more of: better health.
This unusual drink, known as snake wine, has been consumed for centuries, and many believe it offers a range of medicinal benefits.

Snake wine is thought to have originated from traditional Chinese medicine, where animal-based remedies have long been believed to treat ailments and improve health.
Snakes as a medicinal material make their first appearance in the Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica, written in China during the Han dynasty (202BC-220AD).


During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the medicinal value of snakes was detailed in a book called the Compendium of Materia Medica, written by pharmacologist Li Shizhen.
According to these ancient texts, snake venom was thought to invigorate the body, improve circulation and even combat ailments such as joint pain and skin conditions.
People in several other countries in East Asia, including Korea, Japan and Vietnam, also drink snake wine.

There are around 3,000 species of snakes worldwide but, in all countries that consume snake wine, it is the snakes with the most powerful venom that are thought to produce the best quality wine.
In Japan – particularly on the southern island of Okinawa – snake wine takes the form of habushu, named after the habu snake, a species native to the Ryukyu Islands. In Okinawa, habushu is made by submerging a habu snake in awamori, a strong distilled spirit unique to the region.
The process of making snake wine involves several meticulous steps. Once a venomous snake is captured, it is carefully handled and cleaned. The snake’s internal organs are removed to prevent contamination of the alcohol.
Afterwards, the snake is placed in a clean bottle or jar, and high-proof liquor – such as baijiu, rice wine or another strong spirit – is poured in. The alcohol should completely cover the snake.
Once the snake is sealed in the bottle, the container is left to ferment for months or even years. Over time, the snake’s venom dissolves into the alcohol.
There are many variations of snake wine. Some are made with multiple snakes, while others may include other animals or ingredients, depending on the specific health benefits sought.

While snake wine is considered beneficial by many to this day, it is not without its risks. There have been reports of bizarre accidents involving snake wine.
In May 2021, a man in China who wanted to use snake wine to cure his sick son was reported to have put three live venomous snakes into a bottle of snake wine. A year later, when he opened the bottle, the snakes launched a surprise attack, nearly costing him his life.
According to experts, if a bottle is not sealed tightly or if it is not completely filled with alcohol, the snake can survive for years on minimal air.
There are health concerns surrounding snake wine’s consumption. If not produced carefully, it can be contaminated by parasites or harmful bacteria, and the venom in the snake can be harmful if ingested in large amounts.
There are ethical concerns too – in some countries, snake wines have been made illegal.
In South Korea today, the production, sale and consumption of snake wine is illegal. In China, although snake wines are not banned, it is illegal to hunt, kill or trade in protected snake species.


6 Cantonese snake slang phrases to use in Lunar New Year about laziness, queues and more

Year of the Snake 2025 predictions for Horses, including lucky colour and love prospects

Chinese horoscopes for the Year of the Wood Snake 2025: predictions for health, wealth, work and love, plus the Wood Snake’s effect on the 5 elements of the Chinese zodiac

Hong Kong snake catcher channels his passion for reptiles into public service

Chinese culture

Snake wine’s origins, reputed health benefits, use in TCM and how it can bite back

Many believe that snake wine (pictured) offers medicinal benefits, including improving blood circulation – but drinking it is not without its risks. Photo: Shutterstock

The process of making snake wine involves several meticulous steps. Photo: Shutterstock

Snake wine is thought to have originated from traditional Chinese medicine. Photo: Shutterstock

Snake wine at Zisiqiao village, in China, in 2018. There are many variations of snake wine. Photo: Simon Song

Why Chinese Gen Z are getting TCM winter body checks

Qiu Jingchuan, deputy chief practitioner at Lei Yun Shang, takes a patient’s blood pressure at the company’s TCM clinic in Shanghai, China. Photo: Lisa Cam

Lei Yun Shang’s TCM clinic in Shanghai. Photo: Lei Yun Shang

Hong Kong-based TCM practitioner Samuel To at his clinic in Central. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

San fu tian moxibustion patches on a patient. Photo: Samuel To

Inside Lei Yun Shang’s TCM clinic in Shanghai. Photo: Lei Yun Shang

What is Pei Pa Koa and why is Ariana Grande adding it to her ‘vocal box’?

Ariana Grande arrives at the fourth annual Academy Museum Gala on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa is a sticky black cough syrup that has been produced by Hong Kong-based company Nin Jiom Medicine Manufactory since 1946. Photo: Nin Jiom Medicine Manufactory

Ariana Grande with a bottle of Pei Pa Koa. Photo: YouTube

A bottle of Pei Pa Koa. Photo: Antony Dickson

Henry Li uses Pei Pa Koa to make his Herbal Harmony cocktail. Photo: Mongkok Tea House

A bartender at Jade & Clover uses Pei Pa Koa to create the Antidote cocktail. Photo: Glowing Studios

Hong Kong-based singer-songwriter Jodie Chan. Photo: Stephanie Teng/Joya

Why traditional Chinese medicine is so special, and how it’s getting a push in Hong Kong

Chinese herbal medicine is dispensed at a pharmacy in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Chinese herbal medicine is dispensed at a pharmacy in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong, where traditional Chinese medicine is being promoted. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Hong Kong’s acting secretary for health Dr Libby Lee (centre), Chinese Medicine Development commissioner Dr Vincent Chung (right), and Chinese Medicine Practice Subcommittee chairman Chan Wing-kwong at the Hong Kong Chinese Medicine Culture Festival. Photo: www.info.gov.hk

An artist’s impression of the finished Hong Kong Chinese Medicine Hospital, which is set to open in stages from 2025. It will provide predominantly TCM services, with Western medicine doctors playing a supporting role. Photo: HKBU

Traditional Chinese medicine is based on the belief that qi, the body’s vital energy, flows along meridians, or channels, in the body and keeps a person’s spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical health in balance. Photo: Shutterstock

Dr Mok Tik-lun, a lecturer at the School of Chinese Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Photo: CUHK

Acupuncture is one of the “four pillars” of traditional Chinese medicine, along with herbal medicine and dietary therapy, tui na massage, and exercise and movement therapy.

Cupping, in which heated glass jars create suction to promote circulation and the flow of qi. Photo: Getty Images

Why the Year of the Wood Snake starting in 2025 could bring major change, and more luck

A snake at a farm in Bangkok, Thailand. The next lunar new year will be a Year of the Wood Snake, which comes around every 60 years. The previous one, in 1965, saw dynamic change and upheaval. Are we in for more of the same? Photo: Getty Images

Snakes made of palm leaves are displayed in Shanghai to celebrate the previous Year of the Snake in 2013. Photo: Getty Images

Following the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, people line up to vote, most for the first time, in Alabama in the US in 1966. Photo: Getty Images

Angry depositors protest and clash with police outside the office of the chairman of the Canton Trust and Commercial Bank in 1965, the previous Year of the Wood Snake in the Chinese lunisolar calendar. Photo: Chan Kiu

Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Year of the Snake 2025: predictions, facts, myths and feng shui

Year of the Snake 2025 predictions for 12 zodiac signs. How is your health, luck, wealth?

Feng shui master Tong Pik-ha predicts the varying fortunes of people born under the 12 Chinese zodiac signs in the coming Year of the Snake. Illustrations: Victor Sanjinez

Year of the Snake 2025 predictions for Snakes, from lucky colour to making easy money

Snakes will have mixed fortunes in the Year of the Snake. Illustration: Victor Sanjinez

Feng Shui master Tong Pik-ha reveals what lies in store for Snakes in 2025. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Money will come easy for Snakes in the coming lunar year. Illustration: Victor Sanjinez

Tai sui are guardian deities. Those born in the Year of the Snake clash with them in 2025. Photo: Shutterstock

Why do people born in the Year of the Snake make good lovers, friends and colleagues?

People born in the Year of the Snake are caring friends – once you break the ice. They are also romantic lovers and also one of the best colleagues to have in a crisis. Illustration: Victor Sanjinez Garcia

Feng shui master Tong Pik-ha at her office in San Po Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The independent Snake is very good at networking, Tong says. Photo: Jonathan Wong

People who are born in the Year of the Snake are very enterprising. Illustration: Adolfo Arranz

The Year of the Snake will be an auspicious one for Horses. Illustration: Victor Sanjinez

The Year of the Snake will bring good luck in love for Horses, with single ones poised to find their perfect match. Photo: Shutterstock

Horses’ lucky colour in the Year of the Snake is grey. Our model wears a Marant Etoile grey dress c/o Net-a-Porter. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung/Jonathan Vit

It’s going to be a good year financially for Horses, who will benefit from a clear mind and quick thinking. Take advantage of this to get that pay rise or promotion. Photo: Shutterstock

The love lives of Horses will be spectacular this year, especially for women. Illustration: Victor Sanjinez

10 snake-themed Chinese-language movies that charm us, from erotica to horror to animation

A still from Anaconda (2024), one of our picks of the best Chinese snake movies.

A still from White Snake (2019), one of 10 Chinese-language films featuring snakes that we think make perfect viewing with the Year of the Snake coming.

A promotional poster for The Snake Girl (1974).

A promotional poster for Snake Beauty (1994).

7 snake idioms to ring in the Year of the Snake, including one about being two-faced

Why would legs drawn on a snake mean something is ruined? What does a bow’s shadow have to do with reptiles? Seven snake idioms and their meanings. Photo: Shutterstock

One idiom refers to drawing legs on a snake – in other words, making unnecessary changes to something. Snakes do not have legs. Those are called lizards (pictured: an iguana). Photo: Shutterstock

A snake and dragon statuette with Chinese coins and a pyramid. One idiom referring to snakes and dragons is used in association with spaces where both good and bad people can be found. Photo: Shutterstock

A golden Buddha statue in Thailand. A Chinese idiom refers to a person who has the words of the Buddha but the intention of a snake. Photo: Getty Images

An illustration of a giant snake killing an elephant, similar to a Chinese idiom that describes a snake trying to swallow an elephant – meaning a person who is never content. Photo: YouTube

An idiom that refer to being scared of rope after being bitten by a snake is like the English proverb “once bitten, twice shy”. Photo: Shutterstock

8 celebrities born in the Year of the Snake, from Taylor Swift to J.K. Rowling to Psy

Taylor Swift during a concert in Singapore as part of The Eras Tour. The singer is among a number of celebrities born in the Year of the Snake. Photo: Getty Images

Oprah Winfrey at a campaign rally for US Vice-President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia in 2024. Photo: AP

Chris Martin of British rock band Coldplay on stage at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna, Austria in 2024. Photo: AFP

Author J.K. Rowling at an HBO series premiere in New York in 2019. Photo: AFP

Donald Trump at a bilateral meeting with Xi Jinping during the G20 leaders summit in Japan in 2019. Photo: Reuters

Why ‘growing snakes’ – shingles – is so painful and how to prevent it

That snake-like shingles rash can appear anywhere - not just on the trunk, but also the face where it can affect the eyes and vision.
Photo: Shutterstock


The shingles virus generally only appears on one side of the body, not both. Photo: Shutterstock

The shingles rash can appear anywhere, including the face, where it can affect the eyes and vision. Photo: Shutterstock

Dr Wong Sze-man says there is a lack of awareness of the complications that can arise from shingles. Photo: Marina Medical Clinic

Photo: Shutterstock 

The CDC recommends that everybody over 50 should get Shingrix, which comes in two separate doses separated by two to six months. Photo: Shutterstock

Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus – or chickenpox – which most of us were exposed to as children. Photo: Shutterstock 

Mark Chern is a TCM practitioner in Singapore whose approach to treating shingles includes acupuncture and herbal remedies. Photo: LinkedIn 

From evil to good snake, how the zodiac animal became a righteous figure in Chinese mythology

Nüwa, the creator deity in Chinese folklore, is often depicted with a human head and serpent-like body. Photo: Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

An image from the Summer Palace, Beijing, China, depicting the Legend of the White Snake. Photo: Summer Palace

The cover of Liang Luo’s book.

Snakes are depicted as evil spirits in the Chinese classic tale Journey to the West. Photo: Imagin8 Press

The Legend of the White Snake has evolved over the centuries. 

The coming Year of the Snake celebrates an animal that has been transformed from evil spirit to righteous demon in Chinese mythology. Photo: Shutterstock

What the mythical snake Naga represents, both good and evil, in Hinduism and Buddhism

The seven-headed Naga Mucalinda (seen here in Thailand) is King of the Serpents in Buddhist mythology. The snake figure is also worshipped by Hindus. Photo: Shutterstock

A late 12th–early 13th century Cambodian statue depicting Mucalinda protecting Buddha from a storm. Photo: The Met

Naga statues in Lop Buri, Thailand. Sculptures of the serpents are more colourful and vivid in Thailand than those in Cambodia. Photo: Shutterstock

Stone carvings of Naga serpents and Khmer deities at Banteay Srey Temple, Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Photo: Shutterstock

Pet snakes trending in Hong Kong as Gen Z opts for ‘chill’ animals over cats and dogs

A ball python at Slave World pet shop in Hong Kong. Photo: Austin Zhang 

A ball python at Fishman Shop reptile specialist in Hong Kong. More youngsters in the city are keeping snakes as pets. Photo: Austin Zhang

A snake at Fishman Shop, a reptile specialist in Mong Kok, Hong Kong. Photo: Austin Zhang

A red bull snake at Slave World in Mong Kok. Photo: Austin Zhang

A Stuart’s milk snake at Fishman Shop. Photo: Austin Zhang

A ball python at Slave World. Photo: Austin Zhang

New understanding about how snakes regrow their guts could help treat human diseases

The mechanisms pythons use to regrow their intestines may provide insight on treatments for human gastrointestinal diseases, a new study shows. Photo: Dreamstime/TNS

Dr Stephen Badylak, deputy director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. Photo: University of Pittsburgh

Todd Castoe, the biology professor at the University of Texas at Arlington who led the python gut study. Photo: University of Texas at Arlington

A Burmese python on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island. When digesting their first meal in a long time, the Burmese pythons used in the new study increase their metabolic rate to 22 to 44 times that when fasting as they regenerate their intestines. Photo: Peter Parks

The new study’s findings about the gene BEST5+ could unlock new ways of healing and repairing Crohn’s disease, coeliac disease, and colorectal cancer in humans. Illustration: Shutterstock

An African ball python at Kadoorie Farm and Botanical Gardens in Hong Kong. Castoe says humans share with pythons a “back door secret” to remodelling their gut and reprogramming their metabolism. Photo: Jonathan Wong

How the snake is loved, hated or feared in cultures and religions around the world

A depiction of the Egyptian sun god Ra fighting the snake god Apep. Snakes are either hated in mythology as evil, sneaky, dangerous, or revered as saviours and friends of the gods. Photo: Getty Images

In the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, a serpent persuaded Eve to eat fruit from the forbidden tree.

Asclepius, the ancient Greek god of healing, is depicted with a snake coiled around his staff. Photo: Getty Images

Ancient Egyptian god Apep was a giant snake with human legs, and was at war with the sun god Ra. Photo: Getty Images

Jörmungandr is the giant snake monster in Norse mythology that declared war on the gods. 

Hindu god Shiva is often depicted with Vasuki the snake coiled around his neck. Photo: Shutterstock

Hong Kong ‘snake bible’ author on why they rarely bite and are ‘really quite special’

A  Burmese python, the apex snake species in Hong Kong. Photo: Adam Francis

A bamboo pit viper, the species responsible for most venomous snake bites in Hong Kong. They only bite as a last resort, says “snake bible” author Adam Francis. Photo: Adam Francis

Wildlife photographer Adam Francis on The Peak, in Hong Kong. Francis is also a snake enthusiast and researcher. Photo: Edmond So

A bamboo pit viper’s bite is “quite painful”, but Hong Kong hospitals are “amazingly good at treating them”, says Francis. Photo: Adam Francis

Francis says the Burmese python is “a big snake with a slow metabolism that eats big meals and then goes away and sits in a quiet, dark place to digest that meal”. Photo: Adam Francis

Year of the Snake fitness retreat in Hong Kong features snake-themed exercises and motifs

Two Sweet Feet’s Muay Thai coach Natalie Sin will put retreat participants through the paces of her martial art. Photo: Two Sweet Feet HK

Two Sweet Feet trainer Harry Taylor holds a strength-building class. Photo: Two Sweet Feet HK

Two Sweet Feet yoga teacher Kalam Chu holds a yoga class. Photo: Two Sweet Feet HK

The best snake-inspired fashion and jewellery for the coming Year of the Snake

René Caovilla’s Cleo shoes feature a snake strap design that coils around the ankle. Photo: Instagram/@renecaovilla

The Year of the Snake-inspired 2025 Hong Kong snake medallion necklace from Chantel Shafie Jewellery. Photo: Chantel Shafie Jewellery

Adidas Superstar Year of the Snake trainers have a red and black snakeskin print. Photo: Adidas

Hong Kong-based fine jewellery designer Chantel Shafie’s snake medallion necklace, made with 18K yellow gold and encrusted with ethically sourced diamonds. Photo: Chantel Shafie Jewellery

The Golden Red Bamboo watch from Swatch is adorned with a print that resembles the body of a snake. Photo: Instagram/@swatch

One of the pieces in Silk Laundry’s Lunar New Year capsule collection is this red slip dress, with a print of a pink snake amid white orchids. Photo: Silk Laundry

The Serpenti Viper bracelet is among the many snake-inspired jewellery designs from Bulgari. Photo: Instagram/@bvlgari

Join a race that snakes through Hong Kong country parks to avoid a run-in with loved ones

Runners on Wildtrek Hong Kong’s Chinese New Year Dragon Tour in 2024. This year’s run, the Snake Tour, is the second edition of what is planned to be an annual running event. Photo: Wildtrek Hong Kong

Snake wine’s origins, reputed health benefits, use in TCM and how it can bite back

Many believe that snake wine offers medicinal benefits, including improving blood circulation – but drinking it is not without its risks