AP PHOTOS: A lantern workshop in China makes snakes cute for the Lunar New Year

WEIFANG, China — The brightly lit snake lanterns are topped with oversized heads that don't fit the usual image of the slithery reptile — they are cute.

It's the year of the snake in the Chinese zodiac, and in an era when cuteness reigns supreme, a workshop in eastern China is churning out hundreds of snake lanterns with cartoony big eyes — and smiles instead of flickering tongues — for Lunar New Year displays at parks, tourist sites and shopping malls.

''When you come close, you can see they look like snakes, but with a cute feeling," said Wang Yongxun, the owner of the workshop in Weifang city in Shandong province.

The colorful lanterns stand taller than the average person and are built on wiry metal frames. They incorporate dragon elements, Wang said, as the snake is known as the ''little dragon'' in Chinese culture.

The Chinese zodiac is a 12-year cycle with a different animal for each year, and the year of the snake, which begins Jan. 29, follows the year of the dragon.

The snake is a symbol of spirituality, reproduction and longevity in China but may also represent evil and danger.

While they can give people a feeling of terror, snakes were considered a guardian of the home in ancient Chinese culture and harming them would bring bad luck, said Wang Juan, a folklore expert at Peking University.

''We have played down the aggressiveness of the snake, so it is culturalized,'' she said. "This is what we call the incorporation of nature into the sequences of human beings and a manifestation of mutual care between humans and nature.''

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Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang contributed to this story.