Chinese Coronavirus Revisited: How China Wrought the Black Plague On Europe

The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that devastated Europe from 1347 to 1352 A.D., killing an estimated 25-30 million people. About one-third the population of Europe at the time of the pandemic perished. An estimated two-thirds of people stricken with the plague perished. An estimated that between 30% and 50% of the population of cities and villages affected, died from the Black Death.

The death toll had significant long-term consequences on European medieval society as a whole; shortages of farmers resulting in demands for an end to serfdom, a general questioning of feudal kingly authority and rebellions, entire abandonment of many towns and villages. It would take European Medieval society 200 years for the population of Europe to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

Where did one of the world’s most deadly plagues originate? Northern China. The disease was caused by a bacillus bacteria and carried by fleas on rodents traveling with traders along the Silk Road. Scientists discovered evidence that waves of Black Death trace back to gerbils from Central Asian and northern Chinese steppes. Be it gerbils or rats, the rodents travelled during warm summers along the eastern end of the Silk Road as trade between Europe and the Orient peaked.

Traders stopped at Central Asian caravansaries and Middle Eastern trade centers, subsequently infecting people all across Asia. Eventually rodents carrying fleas travelled from the Silk Road to Genoese merchant ships, spreading throughout the Mediterranean Basin spreading throughout the rest of Europe via Constantinople, Sicily, and Italia.

The Bubonic plague caused severe swelling in the groin and armpits (lymph nodes) morphing into a sickening black color, hence the name, “Black Death.” The black sores sometimes covered the body, caused by internal hemorrhages, buboes, where the Bubonic Plague derives its name. Medieval Era writers, notably Italian writer Boccaccio in the preface to his 1358 CE Decameron describe symptoms of the Black Death.

The Black Plague saw so many deaths that overwhelmed localized authorities as carts piled high with corpses became a common sight across Europe. The only course of actions were to burn bodies, quarantine, and pray. Final death toll figures for the Plague range from 25 to 30 million in Europe between A.D. 1347 and 1352. Medieval Europe would see it’s populations return to pre-1347 A.D. levels until around 1550 A.D.

In 1855, the so-called “Third Pandemic” of bubonic plague broke out in Yunnan Province, China. Another outbreak or a continuation of the Third Pandemic—depending upon which source you believe—sprang up in China in 1910. It went on to kill more than 10 million, many of them in Manchuria.

Social structures broke down under the weight of the Black Plague, traditional authority – both royal and from the church – was questioned for how could such pestilence befall a people? The ensuing shock waves the Black Plague affected European society for centuries. Hebei Province (not to be confused with Hubei, where the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic originated) bore the brunt of China’s Black Death fatalities, 5 million of its residents perished in the 1330s.

Once again another plague is causing havoc in the West – China again playing the role of originating carrier, this time through modern travel. The West can no longer ignore or overlook the dire consequences of trade with China. A striking overlap exists between the Silk Route of the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic and the path that emerged in the 1300s.

If Chine’a Hubei Province is again Viral Ground Zero for another plague causing mass upheaval in the West, why are Western societies pretending multiculturalism, mass immigration, and open borders migration is acceptable? Coronavirus is showing us that borders matter, undeniable cultural hierarchies exist between the European West, and China – multiculturalism is unsustainable. The cultural significance of unhygienic practices, medieval levels of sanitation compounded with a failed socio-political system (Communism) cannot be overlooked.

Western universities and business enterprises must no longer rely on Chinese economic and trade networks. Chinese exchange students, low cost labor, financial investors, Huawei 5G telecom systems, software engineers are merchants of a new Black Death.