Although the sparrow campaign ended in disaster, the other three anti-pest campaigns may have contributed to the improvement in the health statistics in the 1950s.[18]
Seems the birds may have been the only screw up. No harm reported from the mosquitos, flies, and rats.
Westerners practically froth at the mouth to talk about the mistakes made under Mao, but even with those mistakes the end result of his term was that the Chinese population’s lifespan doubled. Not a lot of world leaders can claim anything like that level of success.
TIL https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_campaign
Seems the birds may have been the only screw up. No harm reported from the mosquitos, flies, and rats.
Westerners practically froth at the mouth to talk about the mistakes made under Mao, but even with those mistakes the end result of his term was that the Chinese population’s lifespan doubled. Not a lot of world leaders can claim anything like that level of success.