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118 sats \ 1 reply \ @Signal312 14 Apr
A wonderful book that documents the history of China, as it affects one particular family, is Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, by Jung Chang.
Absolutely riveting. And you learn tons about Chinese history. She also wrote a book on Mao - Mao: The Unknown Story.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @wingalt 15 Apr
Two monumental books indeed, going very deep into the hardships of the people, the stupidity and hypocrisy of Mao's policies, best vaccines against communism or any form of central planning
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10 sats \ 2 replies \ @Satosora 14 Apr
Mao did a lot of bad things, killing sparrows is at the bottom of the list.
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10 sats \ 1 reply \ @kristapsk OP 14 Apr
Killing sparrows ended up with millions of people dying from famine.
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Satosora 14 Apr
The smartest people are usually not the people who are at the top.
Mao and Jung Un are good examples of this.
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10 sats \ 1 reply \ @nym 14 Apr
One sad aspect related to the Four Pests Campaign and the resultant famine in China is the psychological toll it took on the population. Many folks experienced severe trauma from witnessing the starvation of loved ones or resorting to cannibalism.
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6 sats \ 0 replies \ @wingalt 15 Apr
That was the plan, people cannot revolt when they can barely stand, typical communist playbook still ongoing in North Korea
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @satsonvats 15 Apr freebie
Killing sparrows is symbolic of the top-down vs. bottoms-up approach to organization. The Great Chinese Famine happened immediately after, though that had to do with killing sparrows and forcing people to build pig iron and just realms of bad economic thought.