In the late nineteen fifties, the Chinese government launched a campaign called the Four Pests Campaign. The plan was to wipe out mosquitoes, flies, rats, and sparrows. Officials believed sparrows were eating too much grain and that removing them would protect the harvest.

Across towns and villages, people banged pots and pans, shot at birds, destroyed nests, and prevented sparrows from resting until they fell from the sky in exhaustion. Millions of sparrows were killed in only a few months. At first, this seemed like a victory. But soon an unexpected disaster appeared.

With fewer sparrows around, insect populations, especially locusts, grew without control. They swarmed over crops, eating far more grain than the sparrows ever had. At the same time, poor farming policies and natural challenges made the situation worse.

Between nineteen fifty nine and nineteen sixty one, China faced one of the worst famines in modern history. Millions of people died from hunger. Historians agree that sparrow eradication was not the only cause of the famine, but it made the ecological imbalance worse and contributed to the crisis.

Later, the government quietly reversed its stance and stopped targeting sparrows. Nature had shown that even a small bird played a big role in the delicate balance of life.