See inside a snake-soup store in Hong Kong
Snake soup is a traditional cuisine believed to be good for the health. Yet the people behind providing fresh snakes for the savoury meal thought to speed up the body's blood flow and keep it strong in the cold winter months may be doomed, with young people increasingly reluctant to take on a job they see as hard and dirty
Customers eat snake soup beside wooden cupboards containing snakes at snake soup shop in Hong Kong January 29, 2013.Bobby Yip/Reuters
Snake shop owner Mak Tai-kong, 84, holds snakes which were caught in mainland China, in front of wooden cabinets containing snakes, at his snake soup store in Hong Kong January 29, 2013.Bobby Yip/Reuters
Two snakes are seen inside their compartment in wooden cupboards labelled "Poisonous Snakes", at a snake soup store in Hong Kong January 29, 2013. TBobby Yip/Reuters
Snake soup shop owner Chow Ka-ling looks at a cobra in her shop in Hong Kong January 29, 2013. Chow is one of scores in Hong Kong who have through generations tamed snakes to make soup out of them, a traditional cuisine believed to be good for the health.Bobby Yip/Reuters
A worker holds snakes which were caught in mainland China, and had their teeth removed, at a snake soup shop in Hong Kong January 29, 2013.Bobby Yip/Reuters
A worker washes snake meat near cages of snakes in the kitchen of a snake soup shop in Hong Kong January 29, 2013.Bobby Yip/Reuters
A worker prepares snake soup for customers in snake soup shop in Hong Kong January 29, 2013.Bobby Yip/Reuters
Customers eat snake soup at a snake soup shop in Hong Kong January 30, 2013.Bobby Yip/Reuters
Snake meat is seen in a bowl of snake soup served at a snake soup shop in Hong Kong January 30, 2013.Bobby Yip/Reuters