History of Everything: Maos Madness and The Great Leap Forward
History of Everything
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The Four Pest Campaign
The Great Leap Forward was designed to increase public hygiene and also increase production for crops. Sparrows were specifically marked as a pest because they could consume rice and other seeds in agricultural fields that would hurt farmers. Citizens were encouraged to go around making as much noise in the fields as they could with pots with pans with drums, any of the stuff that would scare the sparrows into the sky.
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