in economics, there is a notion of coordination failure and multiple equilibria. A simple example is living with housemates. If you think that no one else is cleaning the house, you will get fed up and not want to put in a high effort of level in cleaning because it ends up that you're cleaning your own and everyone else's mess. thus you get stuck in the low level "messy" equilibrium. Conversely, if everyone does their part, you are willing to match their level of cleanliness and you get to a high level "clean" equilibrium (or another to think about it: if you're the only messy one while everyone else is clean, you know you get dirty looks from them, but if everyone else is messy, there's no guilt from being messy too)
anyway, in 1958, China underscored the power of coordination and embarked on its Four Pests Campaign. One of the pests to be eradicated was sparrows. To this end, the government then mandated that all citizens would come out of their houses at a certain time in the day, and in whatever manner they could, make every effort to scare the sparrows. this included banging pots, waving giant articles in the air, anything really to scare the sparrows away from individual household's property.
what is amazing, is that when all the people complied by this mandate, and every single household came out on to the streets at the dictated time of the day to scare the birds, the sparrows literally had no place to rest. every spot that they flew to, they encountered humans who were making every attempt to chase them away.
the story goes that since every corner had households partaking in the exercise, the sparrows could not find a place to roost and were forced to keep flying. eventually, these "pests" were eradicated through death by exhaustion; prolonged continuous flying resulted in birds falling from the sky.
the whole story wows me in two ways. one, its the power of coordination and 2) it highlights china's population advantage and the power of the masses. it is literally conquest by overwhelming size. the technology was simple, i.e. pots and pans. but the sheer magnitude of people participating in the exercise meant that the sparrows could find no place to rest and for this example, we really do see quantity more than making up for quality
news excerpt if you're interested:
1958年2月12日，中共中央、国务院发出《关于除四害讲卫生的指示》，在全国范围内掀起了剿灭麻雀的高潮。全国几乎所有的地方（主要是城市）都采取了全民动员、大兵团作战围歼麻雀的办法。北京市的指示是，从5月18日起，大战三天，……男女老少，一齐上阵，连明赶夜，用“轰、打、毒、掏”的综合战术，给麻雀以歼灭性的打击。在此三天内，每晨六时前，参战人员必须进入阵地，大街小巷、院里院外、楼顶、墙头、树上，鞭炮齐鸣，竹竿彩旗一齐挥动，处处吆喝，强迫麻雀飞翔。政府和民众还组织火枪队分布市郊防线，阻击围歼，并在一定显明的空场施放毒饵。中午傍晚进行掏窝搜索，不给麻雀以喘息的机会，使之累死、饿死、毒死、打死，以获全胜。据《人民日报》的一篇通讯报道，北京市在一天的突击行动中，累死、毒死、打死的麻雀就有83200多只。
the propaganda jingle that went with it
麻雀麻雀气太官，天垮下来你不管。
麻雀麻雀气太阔，吃起米来如风刮。
麻雀麻雀气太暮，光是偷懒没事做。
麻雀麻雀气太傲，既怕红来又怕闹。
麻雀麻雀气太骄，虽有翅膀飞不高。
你真是混蛋鸟，五气俱全到处跳。
犯下罪恶几千年，今天和你总清算。
毒打轰掏齐进攻，最后方使烈火烘。
连同武器齐烧空，四害俱无天下同。
—— 1958年4月21日《北京-晚报》《咒麻雀》
麻雀麻雀气太阔，吃起米来如风刮。
麻雀麻雀气太暮，光是偷懒没事做。
麻雀麻雀气太傲，既怕红来又怕闹。
麻雀麻雀气太骄，虽有翅膀飞不高。
你真是混蛋鸟，五气俱全到处跳。
犯下罪恶几千年，今天和你总清算。
毒打轰掏齐进攻，最后方使烈火烘。
连同武器齐烧空，四害俱无天下同。
—— 1958年4月21日《北京-晚报》《咒麻雀》
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