From 1958 to 1961 sparrow became targets for all Chinese people. (hankeringforhistory)
Humans have waged many failed metaphorical “wars.” For example, the war on drugs or the war on terror but none can compare to the utter disaster of Mao Zedong’s war on sparrows. That’s right. The chairman and godfather of communism in China pursued an all-out offensive against tiny, chirping balls of feathers. On the surface, it sounds like a ridiculous and borderline hilarious endeavor. One that should have lasted about a week before quietly receding into the annals of historical comedy.
However, in reality, Mao’s battle against the birds resulted in a massive famine that led to more than 45 million people dying over just three years! This is the story of Zedong’s Four Pests Campaign, one of the worst examples of humans trying to corral nature.
The extermination of sparrows was also called the "smash sparrows campaign."
Four Pests Campaign
Along with sparrows Zedong listed rats, mosquitoes, and flies as the top four public enemies. In eradicating these specific species, Mao thought he could boost agricultural production. Apparently, in Zedong’s mind, sparrows were standing in the way of China’s massive economic potential thanks to their supposed insatiable appetites for grain.
His philosophy that man should dominate nature and not the other way around was not a new one. He famously said, “Make the high mountain bow its head; make the river yield the way.” Tragically, his unshakeable beliefs lead to unspeakable catastrophe.
Killing sparrow turned into a national campaign with devastating ramifications. (knowledgeglue)
The Thinking
As the thinking goes, without these aerial gluttons, food production could soar to previously unknown heights and fuel development within the growing country. As part of the leader’s “Great Leap Forward” between 1958 and 1962, Mao instituted his “Four Pests Campaign.” The “Great Leap Forward” amounted to Mao’s attempts to industrialize China at warp speed. That included mass deforestation and his doomed sparrow war. His crusade against tiny birds inspired the people to eradicate them by any means necessary. And they did.
The other members of the "Four Pests" campaign were chosen in hopes to eradicate the transmission of pestilence and disease.
Sparrow Genocide
The exact numbers of sparrows killed remains a mystery. But, based on their methods, it’s reasonable to assume that roughly one sparrow was killed per person in China at the time. That means approximately more than 600 million birds were killed over a three-year span. The people of China got on board in a big way. They ripped down nests in droves and loudly beat drums, forcing the terrified birds to fly until they died from exhaustion. The assiduous effort pushed sparrows to the edge of extinction.
A lack of predator for insects lead to mass starvation. (getty)
Whoops
Unfortunately, millions of people in China learned the hard way about trying to manipulate nature. As it turns out sparrows don’t only dine on a diet of grains and other valuable crops. They also eat insects. Perhaps the most important bug on the sparrow’s diets hails from the plagues of old: locusts. When China pushed an essential part of the food chain to near extinction, they unleashed an unimaginable pestilence that raged across the country. Any dissidents, like Hydro-engineer Huang Wanli who voiced criticism of the hair-brained scheme, ended up in labor camps.
By April 1960, Chinese leaders changed tune thanks to ornithologist Tso-hsin Cheng. He pointed out that sparrows ate a large number of insects, as well as grains but the damage was already done.
Mass Starvations
If Mao thought sparrows descended with ravenous appetites, he learned they paled in comparison to the rapacious hunger of locusts. These winged horrors tore through the rural countryside, leaving thousands of miles of crops decimated. Food supplies dwindled rapidly and people began to starve by the millions. Officially, China reported that 15 million people starved to death during the sparrow war. However, most scholars estimate the number was closer to 45 million people and could have been as high as 78 million!
Upsetting the natural order of things brought terrible consequences down upon the Chinese. (rayfifty)
Descent In Horror
As food vanished from people’s tables, they were forced into unspeakable acts to survive. Parents ate their children and vice versa. The crime rate absolutely exploded as the will to survive overcame normal human behavior. After three long painful years, Mao gave up his fight against sparrows and replaced them with bed bugs.
Obviously, mosquitoes, rats, and flies avoided eradication. So Mao only figured out how to annihilate the pest that protected the country’s food supplies. Nevertheless, it’s doubtful that taking out any of the other three pests would have a happy ending. Although, most of us could probably get on board with stamping out mosquitoes.
