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Mao Zedong Part 2: The ‘Great Leap Forward’
Real Dictators
The Great Leap Forward
The Great Leap Forward will have catastrophic and long-lasting effects on Chinese society. In 1958, good weather seems to promise a productive harvest but much of the wheat yield is left to rot in the fields. Mao claims the problem lies not with his policies, but with the nation's birds eating the people's grain. So he issues an absurd dictat: The Chinese people are to eradicate every last sparrow throughout the land. And so they would hunt for days, weeks, rattling that made a noise so the birds couldn't settle and rest and sleep. They gathered them in their thousand and put them on pole to parade them around,. showing this great contribution the village had made to food production
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