Decades have passed, and I still remember how I felt as a child when I once saw an adult relative skinning and cooking a snake to make soup. I found it strange and vaguely frightening at the same time. Although it is almost as common to eat snakes as it is to eat beef and mutton, and snake soup is regarded as a luxurious delicacy in Shanghai, Guangdong, and some parts of southeastern China, not all Chinese eat snakes.
About snakes in China
Many Chinese living in the north do not eat snakes and some even consider eating snakes to be a deplorable custom. In Hong Kong and Shanghai, restaurants that serve snake soup have become harder to find in recent years because of skepticism that it may be unhygienic and unhealthy, and because there are fewer and fewer chefs who know how to make the famous dish.
When I was a child, I lived in Chengdu, where not many people ate snakes. But my adult relatives explained to me that they cooked the snake because my uncle suffered from rheumatism, and the family believed that eating snake meat could help cure his disease.
The Chinese have a complex view of snakes.
The Chinese have a complex view of snakes. We simultaneously admire and fear them. Snakes were one of the most important totemic symbols in ancient China, and many tribes and ethnic groups regarded snakes as ancestors or protectors.
In Chinese creation myths, the snake race is one of the ancient divine races, and important deities such as Pangu, Fuxi, and Nuwa often appear as half-human, half-snake, symbolizing the origin and reproduction of life. Some deities in Daoism and folk beliefs, such as the Huangdi (Yellow Emperor) and the Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West), are also depicted as snakes or in snake-like images.
Snakes are called “little dragons” because the imagined image and attributes of the dragon have some similarities with those of the snake, and like the dragon, the snake is also regarded as a “spiritual animal” symbolizing power and wealth.
The snake and the dragon are both listed in the Chinese zodiac, but the snake and the dragon seem to have “divine” attributes that other animals in the zodiac (such as the ox, horse, chicken, and rabbit) do not have. One of the differences between the snake and the dragon is that the dragon is an imagined creature combining the qualities of different animals, whereas the snake is an animal that exists in the real world.
When the Year of the Snake arrives on the Chinese lunar calendar, the Chinese people routinely say something auspicious.
When the Year of the Snake arrives on the Chinese lunar calendar, the Chinese people routinely say something auspicious related to snakes, such as “The snake travels a thousand miles, and I wish all is well with you,” “The golden snake welcomes the spring, bringing you good fortune, longevity, peace, and health.” But in Chinese culture, the snake is not only a symbol of health, wealth, wisdom, agility, and mystery, but also considered to be a symbol of cunning, malice, and danger.
Often, like the popular Chinese beliefs about medicine nutrition, the Chinese people’s views on snakes are generalized and extrapolated from some of the snake’s physical attributes, including both positive and negative feelings. For example, the snake is good at crawling, slippery and quick, so people think that the snake is smooth and clever, intelligent and sensitive or cunning and treacherous, sinister and malicious; snakes molt many times a year, so people think that they have the ability to be reborn and renewed or they are capricious and unreliable.
But in many cases, there is probably no scientific basis for such simple intuition, just as the belief that snake meat is effective for rheumatism or cough may not have been rigorously verified by clinical trials. Some of these intuitive beliefs may be borderline superstition.
About serpents in the Bible
It is interesting to note that in Western culture, the snake also has some complex and dualistic symbolism, including good and evil, wisdom and temptation, rebirth and cunning, healing and poison. And some of the impressions of snakes in Western culture are linked to the Bible or Judeo-Christian tradition.
The first thing that comes to mind is the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
When many people think of snakes in the Bible, the first thing that comes to mind is the serpent in the Garden of Eden who, as the embodiment of Satan, tempted Eve and Adam to sin and brought sin into the world (Genesis 3). The ancient serpent in Genesis is obviously a symbol of sin and depravity.
In the Book of Revelation, the evil dragon is also called the “ancient serpent,” likewise a clear symbol of Satan the devil (Revelation 12:9, 20:2). Yet as early as in Genesis 3, God foretold the salvation of Jesus Christ through the curse on the ancient serpent: “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).
Many years ago, as a Chinese immigrant, I was puzzled by the symbol of a snake on a staff in Western hospitals and healthcare organizations—how can the purpose of saving lives and healing people be symbolized by a snake? I later learned that it was derived from the Greek myth of “rod of Asclepius,” but it has numerous similarities with the Biblical narrative and some scholars believe the Greeks may have been influenced by the Hebrew experience.
In the Book of Numbers, when the Israelites were complaining about the lack of food and water in the wilderness and the meagerness of their supplies, “the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.” Moses prayed to God for mercy and made a bronze snake according to God’s instructions. He hung the bronze snake on a pole, and whoever among the Israelites was bitten by a poisonous snake could be healed by looking up to this bronze snake (Numbers 21:4-9).
A foreshadowing of the salvation of eternal life that is available to all who believe in Jesus.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus said to Nicodemus and the Israelites, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). Jesus clearly explained that the healing of the Israelites by looking up to the snake that Moses had lifted up in the wilderness was a foreshadowing of the salvation of eternal life that is available to all who believe in Jesus.
Jesus, who often used parables in his teaching, also used the snake’s symbol of agility and cleverness to teach his disciples, who were sent out to carry out evangelizing missions to be “as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” in the face of hostility (Matthew 10:16).
The book of Acts records that Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake on the island of Malta but was unharmed, which was regarded as a miracle by the natives (Acts 28:1-6) and confirms that Christ’s disciples will have the Lord’s presence and protection when they carry out the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).
With the Year of the Snake now here, amidst the blessings of the Year of the Snake and the music of the “Dance of the Golden Snake,” Chinese Christians can meditate on the many snake-related verses in the Bible, and come to God in thanksgiving and prayer:
We thank God for wounding the ancient serpent’s heel through Jesus Christ, the “offspring of the woman,” who overcame the power of death and sin, and freed us from the temptation and harm of the ancient serpent.
We thank God for letting us look up to Christ, who was nailed to the cross and resurrected for us, and be reconciled with God and receive eternal life, just as the Israelites looked up to the bronze serpent that Moses hung on a pole in the wilderness and were healed.
We pray that God would give us true heavenly wisdom and blessings, so that the persecuted churches in China and Christians in a culture hostile to Christianity will be “as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves,” full of the Holy Spirit’s guidance and God’s protection in evangelism and missions.
And, that God will help us to be “transformed by renewing” of our minds like snakes shedding their skins, to serve God and follow Jesus (Romans 12:1-2).
Amen.
Originally published by China Source. Republished with permission.
Sean Cheng is a Chinese diaspora missionary in action, experienced Chinese Christian media editor, and veteran digital evangelist. He served as Asia Editor of Christianity Today (2022-24) and Director of Evangelism for Overseas Campus Ministries (2011-19) and manages the personal evangelistic webpage Jidian’s Links.
ChinaSource is a trusted partner and platform for educating the global church on critical issues facing the church and ministries in China, and for connecting Christians inside and outside China to advance the kingdom of God globally. ChinaSource's vision is to see the church in China and the global church learning and growing together, engaging in ministry that powerfully advances the kingdom of God.
