1958-1960 The Chinese people were encouraged to kill sparrows.

The campaign 'Kill the Four Pests' is directed against flies, mosquitoes, rats and sparrows. Sparrows eat grain from the fields, so they have to be killed. But sparrows also feed on insects, like locusts, that become a real plague once the sparrows have been exterminated.

source: https://chineseposters.net/gallery/pc-1958-025

The propaganda motivated the Chinese to kill the sparrows.

This poster was meant for use in schools....

消灭最后一只麻雀

Destroy the last sparrow



It's sad to see the goal of killing life, until there is none left. That is typical human behavior, isn't it? Shoot first, ask questions later? The sparrow helped protect crops and gardens by eating pests like the grasshopper.



But when the sparrow was killed off....

People soon ran out of things to eat, and millions starved.

source: indiatimes.com