In the Chinese cobra meat and cobra wine restaurant plot in Keeping up with the Joneses, when Jonathan Hamm wants some information about MBI company from Zach Galifianakis, he takes Zach Galifianakis to a Chinese cobra meat and cobra wine restaurant. The restaurant is a secret business, but of course Jonathan Hamm is the regular client of the restaurant. He and the Chinese restaurant couple greet each other, and he enters the secret cobra wine bar of the Chinese restaurant with Zach Galifianakis.

In the cobra wine bar, Zach Galifianakis tells Jonathan Hamm that he can’t eat spicy food, but the Chinese owner shows a bottle of cobra wine that is made by soaking the cobra in the white spirit. But I suggest that the film maker should really think of the specifics of the bottle of cobra wine—-how could they foist the big cobra into the small bottle? Anyway, it is a made cobra wine. And the Chinese owner tells Zach Galifianakis that in Guangdong Province, China, cobra wine is considered as a particularly powerful aphrodisiac. Zach Galifianakis and Jonathan Hamm enjoy the great cobra meat and cobra wine feast. And the film particularly gives the close-up of the cobra head that gives Zach Galifianakis a bite. That is really painful. But the restaurant is more than sufficient to deal with that, and Zach Galifianakis is given antitoxic serum and Jonathan Hamm is given the information.

The plot is really odd, as if in America it is free to open a cobra meat and cobra wine restaurant.

The real Chinese notion upon cobra.

Cobras, or snakes, in China, are considered as spiritual animals and given the most powerful spirituality and mana. People always keep a respectful distance from cobras. In Taoism (the native Chinese religion) classical works, it says that God will never forgive those people who kill snakes for no reasons. If you kill a snake for no reasons, you will get retribution you deserve. If you save a snake, you will get unexpected return. Different from the Western Aesop’s Fables story < Snake and farmer>, this is quite another piece of cake.

There is a story about people killing snakes by mistake. In 1980s, someone built the foundation to construct a house. And a nest of snakes was found under the ground. For fear and shock, he asked the workers to kill the snakes, and only one white snake escaped. A month later, his only daughter got dementia suddenly. He took his daughter to many famous hospitals to see many famous doctors, but in vain. All doctors tried all kinds of modern treatments, without effects. Without any other means, he turned to a wizard who told him that his daughter was troubled by the escaped white snake. He killed the sons of the escaped white snake, and escaped white snake want its revenge. By the guide of the wizard, he confessed to the white snake and promise to do good in the rest of his life, and then his daughter recovered.

Another story, Legend of the White Snake, one of the most famous tales spreading out among folks in ancient and modern China, tells the story that a white snake appreciated the kindness of the person who saved her. You know how famous the story is? The TV series of 1992 version was rebroadcast at least 30 times every year in China, lasting for almost 20 years. Well, thousands of years ago, a white snake was captured and sold in the market. A man showed his mercy and bought the snake and let her go. The white snake turned to practice Taoism for thousands of years. After she got the magic power, she found the reincarnation of the man who saved her. And she transformed into human figure to marry him.

 Of course, in Chinese traditional medicine, really there are some treatments of using cobra wine to treat diseases, like rheumatic arthritis, limb numbness, epilepsy, and so on, and are proved by modern medical science. But under this circumstance, people kill snakes for medical treatment purpose, not for no reasons. And most snakes and cobras used for medical treatment are captive, not wild snakes, just like cattle in captivity for meat.

As for snakes captured for meat, as mentioned above, most of them are captive, especially for meat. If you understand the purpose of raising cows for meat and milk, why don’t you understand the purpose of raising snakes for meat and therapy?

So, the film is unnecessary to discredit China and Chinese for their mistreatment upon animals, but do enough homework first. Besides, a CIA agent becomes the regular client of the restaurant, and most of the customers are Westerners, and how could he ignore such illegal thing that happens in the nation of law, America?