As the first qualitative study in southern China to assess risk factors for zoonotic disease emergence, our scope was limited by current knowledge, only allowing us to focus on known presumed risk factors. With further urbanization, and subsequent increased interactions between human populations and the changing ecosystems, new risk factors for zoonotic disease transmission will likely emerge. This might include changes to the wildlife trade following the temporary ban put in place as a response to the emergence of 2019-nCoV.9,10 Further research to identify the risk factors among different populations will help develop more locally-relevant and fine-tuned risk mitigation strategies and address the social and ecological bias to identifying recommendations for other community settings.