The kick inside: snake wine proves dangerous

 

Snake wine is a traditional Chinese liquor prepared by putting a venomous snake, usually while it is still alive, inside a jar of rice wine. 

The drink is then left to marinate over several months.

It is believed in some cultures that the wine contains magical powers but a man in China has claimed that a snake sealed in a jar for a year survived - and bit him when he opened the drink, Newsweek reported. 

The man from Heilongjiang bought three snakes in a jar of medicinal wine to treat his son's chronic illness, The China Times reported.

The origin of Chinese snake wine is said to date back to the Western Zhou dynasty (1046-771 BC).

It is widely believed that the wine holds beneficial properties as an anti-inflammatory and painkiller, although scientists have discounted the theory and put the practice down as cruel, inhumane and pointless. 

After the man was bitten by the snake, he was hospitalised and survived, local media in China reported. 

The China Times said that if a jar is not sealed properly, snakes can survive if there is enough air entering the container to sustain them.