Snake preserved in wine bites woman

A woman in northern China has had to receive hospital treatment after a snake preserved in rice wine jumped out of the bottle and bit her hand.

According to the Global Times, the surprise attack happened when the woman, surnamed Liu, from Shuangcheng went to top up the bottle with more wine.

Remarkably, the snake, which had been pickling for three months, was still alive.

Liu, who received treatment at a local hospital for inflammation, had bought the snake wine to try and cure her rheumatism.

It is a widely held belief in China that such wines boast medicinal properties

This is not the first incident of a pickled snake seemingly coming back to life.

One Mr Zhang of Hubei Province was bitten by a snake in 2009 that had been preserved in a bottle of rice wine for two months.

While in 2001, a villager from Guangxi Zhuang died a day after being bitten from a pickled snake.