Observations on the Absence of Wildness

I am currently reading the fantastic book "Dersu the Trapper" by Vladimir Klavdievich Arseniev (1872-1930), and I will eventually write a review on it, but I just came through a passage that I must quote in full:

"'All around soon all game end," commented Dersu. "Me think ten years, no more wapiti, no more sable, no more squirrel, all gone.'

it was impossible to disagree with him. In their own country the Chinese have long since exterminated the game, almost every living thing. All that is left with are the crows, dogs, and rats. Even in the seas they have exterminated the trepangs, the crabs, the various shell-fish, and all the seaweed. The Pri-Amur country, so rich in forest and wild life, awaits the same fate, if energetic measures be not taken soon to prevent the wholesale slaughter by the Chinese."

I can confirm the sad state of wildness and wildlife, or the lack of them, from my many trips to China, between 2002 and 2014. By and large, I could only observe the odd sparrow or maybe a pigeon, and very seldom a stray dog. Although the Chinese make a point of having many trees in their cities, they are all transplanted, groomed, without the savage soul found in nature.

During my last trip there I was so depressed that upon coming back to northern Michigan I almost had to immerse myself in our woods in order to recover a semblance of sanity.