It is famous because Liu Zongyuan happened to be demoted to Yongzhou as an official and wrote "Snake Catcher's Theory". In fact, if Liu Zongyuan was demoted to any of the above places as an official at that time, he could also have written this article. The purpose of the article is not to publicize the abundance of snakes in Yongzhou, but to use the experience of snake catchers to illustrate the principle that "tyranny is fiercer than tigers."

Today is a market economy. Because Yongzhou is suitable for the growth of snakes, and because the "Snake Catcher's Story" is popular, everyone knows about the wild and exotic snakes in Yongzhou. Businesses take advantage of this to vigorously develop snakes. The breeding and processing industry created the brand. In fact, for a long time, Guangdong was the largest consumer of snakes. Dishes such as the famous dragon-tiger fight are Guangdong's creations. In Hunan, the people who eat snake more than the people of Yongzhou may be the people of Changsha because of their famous "Ningxiang-flavored snake" dish. Follow-up question:

I am a native of Yongzhou, and there are indeed many snakes there. There are often snakes waiting for mice to eat at home! There are also snakes in the bathroom. One time, there were snakes under my bed, and they were extremely venomous bungaras. There is also a relatively rare snake in the woods called Bamboo Leaf Green, which has a great camouflage ability! And when you go to the river to bathe in the summer, water snakes will occasionally swim by you! But it’s true that people there don’t like to eat snakes. Most people catch snakes and sell them to Lai for money. In recent years, I feel like there have been a lot less snakes. Answer:

This is because the snakes you see are all distributed in subtropical areas. Snakes like to live in shade, humidity, inaccessible, and overgrown with weeds. , densely wooded environment, with tree holes or piles of rocks, firewood piles, haystacks, ancient ridges and earthen walls, and abundant food, these are the places where they live, haunt and breed. Compared with the mountainous areas and countryside in neighboring Chenzhou, Shaoyang, Shaoguan, Guilin and other places, the number of snakes in Yongzhou is not particularly large, and is probably about the same.