# Did Mao kill all the birds in China? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 20, 2008, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107 "2008-07-20T00:53:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107/21 "2011-10-25T12:27:10Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Farmers banging on de drums all day would drive away any and all birds away from their fields, not just sparrows. And de banging on de drums would exhaust not just de birds, but de farmers. Which is why there are no farmers anymore in China. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107/22 "2011-10-25T13:23:03Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > And de banging on de drums would exhaust not just de birds, but de farmers. > > Which is why there are no farmers anymore in China. Only gold farmers. ---
**Author:** ![raskolnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e47c2d/32.png) [@raskolnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raskolnik)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107/23 "2011-10-25T14:46:44Z")
The number of birds in China is interesting…interestingly LOW. Although there are even FAMOUS bird reserves, between the Chinese idea that animals are either pests,food, or both means almost anything was eaten. -Since birds are VERY vulnerable to pollution and insecticide, China’s enviromental problems may also have reduced the mumber of birds. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107/24 "2011-10-25T14:50:59Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > There was another show I once saw on PBS that said that Franco had all the rats in Spain shot. Fuckers sure managed to come back with a vengeance, then. Maybe he should have coordinated with Salazar. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107/25 "2011-10-25T14:54:52Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > There was another show I once saw on PBS that said that Franco had all the rats in Spain shot. I understand the rats were very upset. They thought they had immunity by professional courtesy. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107/26 "2011-10-25T15:43:54Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > There was another show I once saw on PBS that said that Franco had all the rats in Spain shot. Maybe Franco was refering to Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107/27 "2011-10-25T20:00:59Z")
> [@Enola\_Gay](#): > > Never heard that one, but my neighbor just got a new puppy last week. I asked her what kind it was and she told me it was a Havanese. She then proceeded to tell me how lucky she was to have this dog because it is a Cuban breed and Castro killed all the dogs in Cuba except one male and one female and all Havanese dogs are the descendents of these 2 who were spared. I’m not sure what she does for a living, but I hope she’s not a history teacher. There is a kernel of truth to this: > [@](#): > > As part of the Cuban Revolution, upper-class Cubans fled to the United States, but few were able to bring their dogs. When American breeders became interested in this rare and charming dog in the 1970s\*\*, the US gene pool was only 11 dogs.\*\*[5] > > With dedicated breeding, and the acquisition of some new dogs internationally, the Havanese has made a huge comeback and is one of the fastest growing breeds of dogs in the American Kennel Club (AKC). There has to be some pretty serious inbreeding problems in that gene pool. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107/28 "2011-10-26T17:28:53Z")
But he surely would reserve a stock for bird’s nest soup. Obligatory Shakespeare (King Lear), apparently referring to the same animal, the cave swift: EDGAR Come on, sir; here’s the place: stand still. How fearful And dizzy 'tis, to cast one’s eyes so low! The crows and choughs that wing the midway air Show scarce so gross as beetles: half way down _Hangs one that gathers samphire_, dreadful trade! Methinks he seems no bigger than his head: The fishermen, that walk upon the beach, Appear like mice… [Italics mine] ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107/29 "2011-10-26T18:02:56Z")
[Samphire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samphire) is an edible coastal plant. It has nothing to do with bird’s nest soup, and the cave swift (from whose spittle the soup is derived) is not found anywhere near England. Also, as the only bird that Mao targeted was the sparrow (see above), of course the cave swifts were not affected. They are not going to be hanging out around farms much anyway. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107/30 "2011-10-26T18:27:32Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > [Samphire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samphire) is an edible coastal plant. It has nothing to do with bird’s nest soup, and the cave swift (from whose spittle the soup is derived) is not found anywhere near England. The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107/31 "2011-10-26T20:14:35Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land? **njtt** is correct. I mis-italicized the correct phrase (more precisely, truncated it). It’s not the samphire, but the samphire collector who Edgar refers to, who has a dreadful trade, clambering on the side of the (purported) cliffs of Dover. The same work skills are those needed for a cave swift-nest hunter, and I took my clue from there. The passage mentions [choughs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-billed_Chough), however, and they nest very high and hang out in England and Wales, eg. It is on the coat of arms of St. Thomas Beckett; the Wiki article has a nice picture of them hanging out in Wales. Anyone who could prove that Shakespeare had the slightest inkling of bird’s nest soup could probably get tenure. 🙂 As to his lack of veridicity in all matters, it is nothing at all to him. Anyway, it was just a relevant and nice quote which I thought of, and by Doper convention introduced it with “obligatory.” ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107/32 "2011-10-26T22:05:50Z")
I don’t know, but it’s a great line for a poem. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107/33 "2011-10-27T04:16:44Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > I don’t know, but it’s a great line for a poem. It could have gripped it, presuming it weighed under 10 lbs. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107/34 "2011-10-27T04:20:10Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land? Are you suggesting cave swift nests migrate? ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107/35 "2011-10-27T04:22:41Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Are you suggesting cave swift nests migrate? It could be carried. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mao-kill-all-the-birds-in-china/457107.md?page=1)