Chairman Mao replaced the sparrow target with bed bugs. The campaign against sparrows was ended by the government. When the famine ended, between 15 and 36 million individuals had died due to starvation.Īfter the government realized the important role of sparrows in pest control and successful agricultural harvests, it implemented change to the Four Pests Campaign. By 1959, crop production had been reduced by 15%. This ecological imbalance was exacerbated by conditions of drought, flooding, and other changes to agricultural policies. The locusts ate hundreds of thousands of pounds of grain. Because of this imbalance between predator and prey, the locust excess was able to swarm freely over the country, eating the majority of the agriculture intended for human consumption. After the campaign had been underway for some time, the insect population in China grew exponentially, particularly that of locusts, given that the sparrow is their only natural predator. The discovered that the majority of their stomach contents was made up of insects and not grains, as was previously believed. In 1959, researchers at China’s Academy of Sciences performed autopsies on several of the dead sparrows. Not only do sparrows eat grains, but also insects. As it turns out, the sparrow was an integral piece of crop protection. Unintended Consequences of the Four Pest Campaignīesides rendering the sparrow nearly extinct in China, the Four Pests Campaign led to the starvation and death of between 20 and 43 million people. ![]() ![]() In terms of accomplishing its objective, the Four Pests Campaign was a success. The government encouraged these actions by accolading schools, work groups, and government agencies who had the highest number of pests killed.Įstimates suggest that the government and the public were responsible for the deaths of 1.5 billion rats, 1 billion sparrows, over 220 million pounds of flies, and over 24 million pounds of mosquitoes. Additionally, nests were torn apart, eggs broken, and fledglings killed. Sparrows received a large portion of this attention, as citizens were encouraged to make noise with pots, pans, and drums, which scared the sparrows and resulted in them falling from the sky from exhaustion. People reacted by taking all measures in order to kill these four animals. The government published posters illustrating the need for fly swatters, drums, gongs, and guns as tools in the fight for improved public health. The Communist Party called Chinese citizens to act together against what were considered pests. Sparrows were included in this list because they consume rice and other seeds from agricultural fields. Workers at factories, schools, hospitals and farms were pulled from their jobs to assist in the production of steel.Three of the four pests were identified because of their role in spreading malaria, typhoid, and the plague. The result was not steel, but pig iron, which was largely unusable. Where iron ore was unavailable, they melted household objects, including pots and pans, and even bicycles. People used every type of fuel they could to power these furnaces, from coal to the wood of coffins. 'Backyard furnaces' were constructed at every commune and urban neighborhood to help increase steel production. ![]() Many communities were assigned to the production of a single commodity: steel. Farmers who attempted to escape the communes were punished with struggle sessions, a form of public humiliation during which the victim was verbally and physically abused. Private plots were abolished and communal kitchens were introduced. By the end of 1958, approximately 25,000 state-operated communes were created, with an average of 5,000 households each. Mao believed existing collectives should be merged into even larger People's Communes. By monopolizing agriculture, the government was able to buy grain cheaply and sell it for a much higher price in order to finance industrialization. In 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward, a campaign that aimed to further transform China from its agrarian roots to a socialist economy through rapid industrialization and collectivization.
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