27. By the Time Mao Realized that the Sparrow Extermination Campaign Was a Terrible Idea, it Was Too Late
Sparrows might eat grain and fruits, but they also eat insects – a whole lot of insects. Especially locusts, whose chief predator, the one that keeps their population in check, happens to be sparrows. Without sparrows, the locust population exploded, and they fell upon China’s crops in massive swarms that blanketed the sky and obscured the Sun. Rather than increase crop yields, the extermination of sparrows ended up substantially decreasing China’s available rice. In 1960, Mao ordered the removal of sparrows from the “Four Pests”, and had them replaced with bed bugs.
It was too late. The locusts ate up so much grain that catastrophe ensued. Between the huge insect swarms, and the mismanagement, incompetence, and turmoil that accompanied the Great Leap Forward, the country was plunged into what came to be known as The Great Chinese Famine. By the time it was over, tens of millions had starved to death, with estimates going as high as 45 million fatalities. Eventually, after having all but wiped out China’s native population of sparrows, the Chinese government was forced to import 250,000 of the small birds from the Soviet Union to replenish its stock.
