Great sparrow campaign
Encyclopedia
The Great sparrow campaign also known as the Kill a sparrow campaign , and officially, the Four Pests campaign was one of the first actions taken in the Great Leap Forward
from 1958 to 1962. The four pests to be eliminated were rat
s, flies
, mosquito
es, and sparrow
s. The extermination of the latter upset the ecological balance, and enabled crop-eating insects to proliferate.
, who identified the need to exterminate mosquitoes, flies, rats, and sparrows. Sparrows – mainly the Eurasian Tree Sparrow – were included on the list because they ate grain
seeds, robbing the people of the fruits of their labour. The masses of China were mobilized to eradicate the birds, and citizens took to banging pots and pans or beating drums to scare the birds from landing, forcing them to fly until they fell from the sky in exhaustion. Sparrow nests were torn down, eggs were broken, and nestlings were killed. Sparrows and other birds were shot down from the sky, resulting in the near-extinction of the birds in China. Non-material rewards and recognition were offered to schools, work units and government agencies in accordance with the volume of pests they had killed.
By April 1960, Chinese leaders realized that sparrows ate a large amount of insects, as well as grains. Rather than being increased, rice yields after the campaign were substantially decreased. Mao ordered the end of the campaign against sparrows, replacing them with bedbugs in the ongoing campaign against the Four Pests. By this time, however, it was too late. With no sparrows to eat them, locust
populations ballooned, swarming the country and compounding the ecological problems already caused by the Great Leap Forward
, including widespread deforestation and misuse of poisons and pesticides. Ecological imbalance is credited with exacerbating the Great Chinese Famine in which upwards of 30 million people died of starvation.
in Chongqing
, "Get rid of the Four Pests". Ninety-five percent of households were ordered to get rid of four pests. This time, cockroach
es were substituted for sparrows. A similar campaign was spotted in the spring of 1998 in Beijing
. This time, people did not respond to either of these campaign style approaches, as they were already fond of killing the said four pests, most especially cockroaches.
, a peasant came up with the idea of killing the sparrows to improve agricultural output. It was meant to be a prank used to trick the peasant owners into starvation and poverty.
The album Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Red Sun
by US-American Post-Rock band Red Sparowes
tells, by way of its song titles, the story of the Great Sparrow Campaign.
Great Leap Forward
The Great Leap Forward of the People's Republic of China was an economic and social campaign of the Communist Party of China , reflected in planning decisions from 1958 to 1961, which aimed to use China's vast population to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a modern...
from 1958 to 1962. The four pests to be eliminated were rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s, flies
Fly
True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...
, mosquito
Mosquito
Mosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...
es, and sparrow
Sparrow
The sparrows are a family of small passerine birds, Passeridae. They are also known as true sparrows, or Old World sparrows, names also used for a genus of the family, Passer...
s. The extermination of the latter upset the ecological balance, and enabled crop-eating insects to proliferate.
Campaign
The campaign against the 'Four Pests' was initiated in 1958 as a hygiene campaign by Mao ZedongMao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
, who identified the need to exterminate mosquitoes, flies, rats, and sparrows. Sparrows – mainly the Eurasian Tree Sparrow – were included on the list because they ate grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
seeds, robbing the people of the fruits of their labour. The masses of China were mobilized to eradicate the birds, and citizens took to banging pots and pans or beating drums to scare the birds from landing, forcing them to fly until they fell from the sky in exhaustion. Sparrow nests were torn down, eggs were broken, and nestlings were killed. Sparrows and other birds were shot down from the sky, resulting in the near-extinction of the birds in China. Non-material rewards and recognition were offered to schools, work units and government agencies in accordance with the volume of pests they had killed.
By April 1960, Chinese leaders realized that sparrows ate a large amount of insects, as well as grains. Rather than being increased, rice yields after the campaign were substantially decreased. Mao ordered the end of the campaign against sparrows, replacing them with bedbugs in the ongoing campaign against the Four Pests. By this time, however, it was too late. With no sparrows to eat them, locust
Locust
Locusts are the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers of the family Acrididae. These are species that can breed rapidly under suitable conditions and subsequently become gregarious and migratory...
populations ballooned, swarming the country and compounding the ecological problems already caused by the Great Leap Forward
Great Leap Forward
The Great Leap Forward of the People's Republic of China was an economic and social campaign of the Communist Party of China , reflected in planning decisions from 1958 to 1961, which aimed to use China's vast population to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a modern...
, including widespread deforestation and misuse of poisons and pesticides. Ecological imbalance is credited with exacerbating the Great Chinese Famine in which upwards of 30 million people died of starvation.
Revived campaign
On June 19, 1998, a poster was spotted at Southwest Agricultural UniversitySouthwest Agricultural University
Southwest Agricultural University is a public and national key university located in Chongqing, China.It was founded in 1950 and has cultivated thousands of talents in the field of agriculture....
in Chongqing
Chongqing
Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...
, "Get rid of the Four Pests". Ninety-five percent of households were ordered to get rid of four pests. This time, cockroach
Cockroach
Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria or Blattodea, of which about 30 species out of 4,500 total are associated with human habitations...
es were substituted for sparrows. A similar campaign was spotted in the spring of 1998 in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. This time, people did not respond to either of these campaign style approaches, as they were already fond of killing the said four pests, most especially cockroaches.
Cultural influence
In the TVB drama series Rosy BusinessRosy Business
Rosy Business is a 2009 award-winning Hong Kong television drama produced and by TVB. The original broadcast was on the TVB Jade network with 45-minute episodes airing daily from April 27 to May 29 in 2009...
, a peasant came up with the idea of killing the sparrows to improve agricultural output. It was meant to be a prank used to trick the peasant owners into starvation and poverty.
The album Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Red Sun
Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Red Sun
- Personnel :* Tim Green – audio engineering, audio mixing and production* Greg Burns – bass guitar, pedal steel* David Clifford – drums* Josh Graham – guitar, keyboard* Bryant Clifford Meyer – guitar, organ, piano* Andy Arahood – guitar...
by US-American Post-Rock band Red Sparowes
Red Sparowes
Red Sparowes is a Los Angeles post-rock band comprising current and former members of Isis, Halifax Pier, Angel Hair and Pleasure Forever. Their sound is characteristic of soundscape-influenced experimental rock, with an otherwise uncommon extensive use of a pedal steel guitar.-History:Red Sparowes...
tells, by way of its song titles, the story of the Great Sparrow Campaign.
External links
- PBS series "The Peoples' Century – 1949: The Great Leap"
- China follows Mao with mass cull (BBC)