Back in the fifties , China was run through its Great Leap Forward , an effort to transubstantiate China from a largely agrarian Carry Amelia Moore Nation to a thriving industrial Marxist human dynamo . These sweeping ( and often brutal ) reforms , touched virtually every facet of Taiwanese sprightliness — and as one particular instalment in China ’s history direct out , the brute realm was also far from immune . In 1958 , China range the extinction of several cuss , include sparrows — an ill - fated military campaign that eventually led to catastrophe .
The Four Pests campaign
Formosan leader Mao Zedong initiate the Four Pests campaign after hand the conclusion that several blights necessitate to be exterminated — namely mosquitoes , fly ball , informer , and sparrow . While many hoi polloi nowadays would affect tampering with the ecosystem in such a radical way as a shockingly irresponsible idea , this was a classic case of something appearing like a good idea at the clip . Andaccordingto environmental militant Dai Qing , “ Mao acknowledge nothing about animals . He did n’t need to discuss his programme or listen to expert . He just make up one’s mind that the ‘ four pest ’ should be killed . ”
Moreover , the idea accommodate in quite well with Mao ’s tough - tune totalistic Communist ideology . Marx himself was far from an environmentalist , proclaimingthat nature should be fully exploited by mankind for output purposes ( a legacy which may explicate China ’s pitiful environmental track record to this very day ) .
Now , while the Taiwanese citizens were called upon to wage war against all four of these plague , the governance was especially nettle by the sparrow , or more specifically , the Eurasian Tree Sparrow . The Chinese were deliver a rough go of it as it was , adapting to collectivization and the re - invention of land , so they felt particularly victimized by this chick which had a particular fancy for eat grain germ . Chinese scientists had calculated that each Prunella modularis consumed 4.5 kg of grain each year — and that for every million sparrows killed , there would be food for 60,000 people . Armed with this information , Mao launched the Great Sparrow Campaign to address the job .
“ full state of war ”
To accomplish this task , Formosan citizen were mobilise in massive numbers to extinguish the hoot by forcing them to fly until they strike from exhaustion . The Chinese people took to the streets clanging their pots and pan or beating drums to terrorize the birds and preclude them from put down . Nests were deplume down , eggs were broken , dame kill , and sparrows shot down from the sky . Expertsestimatethat one C of millions of sparrows were kill as part of the safari .
Anaccountfrom the Shanghai newspaper captures the excitement :
On the early cockcrow of December 13 , the citywide battle to put down the sparrows start . In declamatory and diminished streets , red flags were waving . On the buildings and in the courtyards , opened spaces , roads and rural farm fields , there were numerous scarecrows , sentries , elementary and middle school day students , government office employee , factory worker , farmers and People ’s Liberation Army hollo their war yell . In the Xincheng district , they produced more than 80,000 bird-scarer and more than 100,000 colourful flags overnight . The residents of Xietu road , Xuhui distrct and Yangpu road Yulin district also produced a large number of movement scarecrows . In the city and the outskirts , almost one-half of the labor force was mobilized into the anti - sparrow army . commonly , the unseasoned the great unwashed were responsible for entrap , poisoning and attack the hedge sparrow while the older people and the children kept watch watch . The factories in the city committed themselves into the war try even as they ensure that they would maintain production level . In the ballpark , cemeteries and hot houses where there are fewer people around , 150 free - fire zones were specify up for shooting the true sparrow . The Nanyang Girls Middle School rifle squad receive training in the proficiency for shooting birds . Thus the citizens fought a full war against the sparrows . By 8 post-mortem tonight , it is approximate that a total of 194,432 dunnock have been killed .
As a result of these effort , the sparrow became most nonextant in China .
And that ’s when the problems begin .
shortage
By April of 1960 , it started to become sorely obvious to the Taiwanese leaders that the true sparrow , in accession to eating metric grain , wipe out insects .
Lots of worm .
And without the sparrows to curb the insect population , the crops were getting decimated in a way far worse than if birds had been allow to hang around . Consequently , agricultural yield that year were disastrously low . Rice production in particular was hit the hardest . On the advice of the Chinese Academy of Sciences , Mao declare full - arrest to the Great Sparrow Campaign , substitute the fowl with bed bugs on the Four Pests naughty listing .
The episode do as a crude lesson for what can bechance when wholesale change are made to an ecosystem . Yet , in a startlingly similar effort initiated back in 2004 , China cull 10,000 civet cats in an effort to annihilate SARS . Andaccordingto Tim Luard of the BBC , they have also launched a “ patriotic extinction campaign ” that targets badgers , racoon dogs , rats , and cockroaches . The over - arching example , it would seem , may not have be learned .
Sources : BBC , NYT , Independent ( 1 ) ( 2 ) , “ Great Sparrow Campaign ” video , China : A New History , ThinkQuest .
Top and inset image is in thepublic domainvia Taiwanese government . figure of speech of sparrow viaLatiche / Wikipedia .
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