Quoted from ForceFlow:Journalism itself has changed quite a bit.
As for China, the reason why all these diseases get started, especially species-jumping diseases, is that outside of modern & upper class areas, China has a serious hygiene & sanitation problem.
1) They eat lots of wild animals, tainted/diseased/uncooked meat, and dogs. Yes, they eat dogs. There are thousands of restaurants across that advertise it as "gou rou"--it's not just a fringe thing. Many of these dogs are street dogs in poor health that should be unfit for consumption. China just enacted a law this past week banning the consumption & trade of wild animals to help curb the spread of disease in the wake of the coronavirus.
2) There isn't a lot of hand washing, even when preparing food.
3) Many public bathrooms are just open pits under a floor with holes in it. No running water, toilet paper, sinks, or soap.
4) People spit in public constantly.
The Chinese don't stop at dogs... Cats, bats, virtually any living creature is fair game. Tremendous pollution especially in Wuhan. They recently had huge demonstrations there similar to what was going on in Hong Kong. Corona came at a perfect time to shut both down. Chinese also smoke like chimneys, so you have a ton of people with compromised lungs from smoking and pollution and you introduce a respiratory virus. Of course many more people living under those conditions will die compared to some other areas.