Quote Originally Posted by BerkeleyBoi
I'm going to be off topic, sorry about that, but I'm curious as to why the diseases tend to come from China? SARS and Avian Flu are two recent cases, but others such as AIDS and Ebola comes from Africa. I don't know about ancient diseases, but is there a reason why it comes from China? (I think it has something to do with the huge masses of people living in condensed area, but India also had a dense population in ancient times, right?)

Once again, sorry for being off topic... so to make up for it, I have never seen any disasters other than plagues. Maybe one storm or earthquake...
Well zoonoses can arise anywhere human contact with animals is widespread, which applies to China but also to India. Other pandemics can arise anywhere human population is concentrated, especially where sanitation and medical service is poor - again, India and China are prime candidates.

The black death seems to have started either in the steppes of central Asia or in northern India. It was then spread east into China and west into Europe by Mongols and traders.

Anyway, China appears to be just one of a number of common origins of disease outbreaks.