An Investigation of the History of the Concept of “Game” and Ecological Reflection: Analysis Based on Spatial Relationships Between Humans and Nature

The spatial relationship between humans and nature in the context of urbanization is crucial to the formation of the modern concept of “game” (wildlife, yewei, 野味) which as a kind of human-terrestrial relations is able to serve as an imaginative approach to nature. The notion of “game” in modern society has two extremes and oscillates between them. See it as a den of evil based on the need for sanitary protection, or as a unique nutritional delicacy of taste based on an alienated view of the natural countryside and the practical need to promote rural tourism. The two attitudes may seem incompatible, but they are two sides of the same coin of ecological issues in the context of modernization and urbanization. To radically reduce the tension between the civilized and wild worlds, a cultural rethinking of the antagonism between man and nature is indispensable, and ecologism will become a new ethical norm. At present, legislation has explicitly prohibited the hunting and eating of “wild game”, but in order to cultivate a healthy relationship between man and nature, local education and nature education should be promoted on this basis, and a sound ecological ethic should be cultivated from the bottom up.