“In the end, as I later learned, the steel production campaign was a total failure. Well, it was a big joke: Anyone with any knowledge of metallurgy would know that you can’t just toss scrap metal into a backyard furnace and expect it to produce durable, high-quality steel. People destroyed or damaged useful metal things and burned tons of wood and coal to produce only waste, as the output from the small blast furnaces was completely useless. In the end, China only produced about 10 percent more steel in 1958 than in 1957, but nobody knew how much of that increased production was usable. An estimated 100 million farmers, government employees, schoolteachers, and students went into the backyard steel production in that year, diverting resources and manpower from the production of other goods (including food). As a result, there was a shortage of farm labor and 15 percent of the grain crop rotted in the fields because there was no farm labor available to harvest it, which directly contributed to the Great Famine that engulfed the country. * * * To boost agricultural production and to improve health, another campaign was waged in 1958 simultaneously with the Great Leap Forward. It was called “Eradicate the Four Pests”—mosquitoes, flies, rats, and sparrows. The alleged crime of sparrows was the theft of grain. For this offense, Mao decided to condemn them all to heaven. effort. On the day of the action, April 19, 1958, it seemed that the entire population of the city came into the streets. Some people carried long sticks with colorful rags tied on the tips, or held flags on long poles. People beat drums, gongs, and pans so loudly the noise was deafening. Initially, startled birds were flying everywhere. Whenever a bird flew over our heads, people would make even louder noises and wave their flags more wildly to prevent the bird from landing. Sparrows are short-distance fliers. Big as the city is, there was no place for the birds to hide or land as there were multitudes of people everywhere, making loud noises and waving flags. The commotion sent birds into a panic and they flew like shooting arrows here and there in search of safety. Sometimes a bird would land on a roof corner, exhausted. But there were people on the roof, and under the roof, and the crowds would rush toward the bird or throw stones at it, forcing it to take off again. After a while, exhausted birds began to drop from the sky, one after another. Whenever a bird fell, crowds would cheer and swell forward to capture it. The People’s Daily reported on April 20, 1958, that three million people in the capital participated in the operation on April 19, and by 10 p.m., 83,000 sparrows perished in the waves of the people’s war. In three days, the residents of Beijing killed more than 400,000 sparrows. Birds basically disappeared from Beijing from that time on. This was a nationwide campaign, so similar operations were carried out in other population centers in China. It was soon learned that sparrows and other birds were actually “good” birds, not pests, because they do not eat only grain but also crop-eating insects such as locusts. When the birds were killed off, the insects lost their natural enemies and their population exploded, causing damage to crops. Shan, Weijian (2019-01-02T22:58:59). Out of the Gobi (Kindle Locations 677-678). Wiley. Kindle Edition. Shan, Weijian (2019-01-02T22:58:59). Out of the Gobi (Kindle Locations 676-677). Wiley. Kindle Edition. Shan, Weijian (2019-01-02T22:58:59). Out of the Gobi (Kindle Locations 671-674). Wiley. Kindle Edition. Shan, Weijian (2019-01-02T22:58:59). Out of the Gobi (Kindle Locations 665-669). Wiley. Kindle Edition. Shan, Weijian (2019-01-02T22:58:59). Out of the Gobi (Kindle Locations 661-665). Wiley. Kindle Edition. Shan, Weijian (2019-01-02T22:58:59). Out of the Gobi (Kindle Locations 658-659). Wiley. Kindle Edition. Shan, Weijian (2019-01-02T22:58:59). Out of the Gobi (Kindle Locations 646-651). Wiley. Kindle Edition. Shan, Weijian (2019-01-02T22:58:59). Out of the Gobi (Kindle Locations 641-646). Wiley. Kindle Edition. ”

— Steel production under Mao, killing sparrows