it's pretty racist to be honest and jars me every time i read it in your posts.
It's not racist; and it is from Chy-na. Though technically it's not a plague.
My mum reckons she was born in China, though I'm a bit dubious about that. My granddad worked there during the war (when I say worked, he probably slaughtered quite a few of them, being an officer in the Kwangtung army who was accompanied by his wife, which is how my mum reckons she was born there, but the time-line doesn't fit).
And just for interest the word 'Oriental' has supposed racist connotations and shouldn't be used, even though I described myself as of Oriental heritage for years before finding out I was being racist against myself.
It's just so hard to keep up with all the woke nonsense these days.
You'll be telling me that the Spanish Flu or the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome is racist next.
Edited to add: the Spanish flu should really be called the American Flu because it started in Kansas and was brought over to Europe by US soldiers. But I don't think that's racist either, btw.