China: the eradication of the Four Pests. Colour lithographs, 1956.

A set of four communist Chinese propaganda posters produced to support the 'Four Eradications' campaign. The targets of the Four Eradications were: flies, mosquitos, rats and sparrows - the Four Great Pests, types of creature thought to be detrimental to health and wellbeing in the People's Republic of China

While the case for eradication of flies, mosquitos and rats was clear, the case against sparrows was less so and it was the eradication of sparrows and other small birds for which the campaign became infamous. The sparrows were scared out of trees and fields, and were relentlessly pursued until they dropped exhausted to the ground, whereupon they were killed. This massive eradication of sparrows was ordered as it was thought that they fed unduly on grain and thus depleted the harvest. However, the harvest in China for the two years after the campaign was a complete disaster due to the uncontrolled spread of insect pests which fed on the grain and whose main predator, small birds, was not present to control their numbers (information from John Constable, 2007)

The posters all start with the exhortation "Renren Dong Shou!" - a call to action. The poster showing the eradication of flies shows a boy (a communist Young Pioneer) holding a fly swat. The mosquito poster shows a girl in action with a hand-held pesticide spray. The rat poster shows a young woman holding a rat caught in a trap. Finally, the sparrow poster shows a young boy holding a string on which are strung a number of dead sparrows

Tianjin : [publisher not identified], 1956.

4 prints : lithographs, printed in colours ; sheets approximately 53 x 38 cm

Wellcome Collection 660501i