For twenty years, Chinese epidemiologists have traced the movements of avian influenza not as a resident threat but as a recurring visitor, arriving and departing with the seasons. A study spanning 219,445 wild bird samples across 28 provinces reveals that H5Nx viruses — particularly the now-dominant clade 2.3.4.4b — are repeatedly reintroduced into China via migratory flyways connecting Europe, North Asia, and beyond, rather than persisting through local transmission. The virus, it turns out, does not settle; it travels, reshuffling its genetic identity along the way. This understanding refra