China’s deadly science lesson: How an ill-conceived campaign against sparrows contributed to one of the worst famines in history

Learn a lesson from Chairman Mao, whose disrespect for science led to ecosystem collapse and a famine killing tens of millions of people, writes Jemimah Steinfeld

MAO ZEDONG DIDN’T respect nature. The Chinese leader, who ruled between 1949 until his death in 1976, thought nature should be subservient to human wants and needs, not the other way around. His slogan Ren Ding Shen Tian (Man Must Conquer Nature) became a rallying cry, and in 1958 he famously declared: “Make the high mountain bow its head; make the river yield the way.”

The ways people were instructed to “conquer nature” were far-ranging but all shared a core principle: a thorough disrespect and disregard for the laws governing the natural world.

“The lack of freedom to behave responsibly toward the natural world was a hallmark of the Mao years,” wrote Judith Shapiro in Mao’s War Against Nature.

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A propaganda poster from 1956, which reads “Everybody should come to fight sparrows”

CREDIT: Bi Cheng/Alamy

“Maoism constructed a world that pitted humans against nature, and inculcated this world view among the people through repression, indoctrination, utopian promises and censorship.”

This war on nature peaked during the Great Leap Forward from 1958, which was a call from Mao for China to industrialise at lightning speed. During this period, various policies led to widespread deforestation, while agricultural experiments that dismissed scientific logic often yielded negative results.

Those who voiced criticism were persecuted. Hydro-engineer Huang Wanli, for example, was labelled a rightist for his opposition to the Sanmenxia Dam on the Yellow River and sent to a labour camp.

One of the most extreme measures was an effort to stop birds eating grain. As part of the Four Pests campaign – a hygiene campaign against flies, mosquitoes, rats and sparrows – people were called upon to shoot sparrows, destroy their nests and bang pots and pans until the birds died of exhaustion. Millions of sparrows, perhaps even hundreds of millions, were killed. The measure though left crops vulnerable. Pests such as locusts became the real winners, as they had lost a major predator.

Mao called off the sparrow campaign, but it was too late. A perfect storm had gathered. A toxic combination of widespread deforestation, misuse of poisons and pesticides and misinformed agricultural policy combined with poor weather to create a devastating famine. Up to 45 million people died.

By the early 1960s, the Great Leap Forward was repealed. And yet, even after millions had perished, the disregard for basic scientific principles continued. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), mass campaigns led to a uniform agricultural model. The slogan “Take Grain as the Key Link” became gospel, forcing farmers to disregard growing local, appropriate crops in favour of grain. In some areas grain simply would not grow. “Such formalism supplanted local practices and wisdom, damaged the natural world, and inflicted enormous hardship on the Chinese people,” wrote Shapiro.

China suffers from many ecological problems today. Not all are down to Mao. Bad practice has happened under past regimes and since. But Mao’s role is irrefutable. The message is clear: ignore science at your peril.