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?

Engineer and Chinese restaurant owner may be two of the most popular careers for Chinese in America to make a living. As engineers, American Chinese are smart, capable, and industrious. They are well established in many high technology fields. In Silicon Valley, for example, you will see many Chinese young people in T-shirt and with glasses who are programmers and engineers of local major technology companies. They are from Beijing University, Tsinghua University, Stanford University, and other schools, representing the Chinese power in the global innovation sanctuary. The Chinese female engineer in the film might imply the Chinese girl Gao Xingxin who deciphered Beidou satellite signal coding program for the American research institute.

There are about 4,000 Chinese restaurants in America, almost three times the number of McDonald’s stores, even some remote town of less than 1,000 citizens. There are advantages for Chinese to run the restaurant business, for example, low cost, good taste, high profit, trade in cash, and well-received. Furthermore, there are many Chinese in this industry, and they can look after each other. The Chinese restaurants, most of which are family managed, always hire the immigrants who will just stay for months as workers.

For most American Chinese, there are no mechanisms for changing the decision to come to America. In fact, the superficially glamorous American Chinese suffer more than the general public. As the immigrant life continuously fosters all kinds of disappointments, people naturally consider other way out of immigration to the United States. The growing economy in some parts of China gives people more choices, and the temptation to work in America is fading

There are few American films that refer to Chinese female engineer and restaurant owner synchronously. But here we get Keeping up with the Joneses, a 2016 American action comedy film directed by Greg Mottola and written by Michael LeSieur, Starring Zach Galifianakis, Jon Hamm, Isla Fisher and Gal Gadot. The film follows a suburban couple (Galifianakis and Fisher) who begin to suspect their new neighbors (Hamm and Gadot) are spies. And really the new neighbors are spies; together they defeat the agents who endanger the safety of the United States.

The contradictory state of mind of Americans.

It is very interesting to observe to two roles, the Chinese female engineer and Chinese restaurant couple, in the film to figure the film maker’s true conception of the film.

Anywhere there are humans, there are Chinese. Anywhere there are Chinese, there are Chinese restaurants. For most Chinese who newly immigrate to America, their first jobs start from Chinese restaurants that provide free food and shelter for them. For many immigrant Chinese families, to run a Chinese restaurant is the most direct and effective way to solve the problem of survival. There is no other rigid demand like food and beverage consumption, so it is easy to thrive in the business world. Cooking skills are not professional skills, but survival skills, which lowers the entry threshold. The food and beverage industry have a lot of slack in investment, and the trade is in cash, and it can solve the family’s most fundamental problem of eating. Factors mentioned above make it common for Chinese to run a restaurant, especially those who have difficulties in language and good skills. It is nothing surprising that American would always ask the first-met Chinese if he runs a restaurant for a long time.

Chinese restaurants are so popular that Chinese restaurant culture has become an integral part of American culture, and even most Americans have to admit that they can’t imagine the life without Chinese restaurants. The film wants to show the popularity of Chinese restaurant.

The first generation of American Chinese was the generation of sacrifice who sacrificed their deserved enjoyment for the family happiness. The second generation got good education in America, and they went high school, or college. They felt just like a fish in water with the fluent English. They were able to achieve success one way or another. The third or the fourth generation completely got rid of the image of restaurant owners. They become American social elite. Unconsciously and surprisingly, the American Chinese seem to go to the high society overnight. Nowadays, you can see Chinese in all walks of life, including congressman, government departments at all levels, and even Federal Ministers, not to say engineers in high tech companies.

American society must adapt the change of identity of American Chinese. And contribution made by Chinese to the American society should be acknowledged.

Further, we can see a little unease about the increasingly powerful China. Just like the American Chinese who always run Chinese restaurants but unknowingly appear in the high-class society. China is imperceptibly powerful and people get some kind of fear. People and nations all will get strong, you have to adapt it. As to whether it is good or bad, it depends.