Wang Shi

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Wang Shi

Wang Shi (王石), founder of China Vanke Co., Ltd., one of the country’s biggest real estate companies, is a legendary entrepreneur who has carefully created his own empire of wealth and fame from scratch.

He passed on his general manager position in 1999 and subsequently served as the Chief Executive Officer of Vanke.

He currently attends prestigious Harvard University, yet maintains his title as the company’s chairman of the corporate board.

Although keeping a rather low profile on the Pacific Ocean’s opposite continent, he was thrust into the spotlight in October of 2012 for allegedly having an extra-marital affair with B-list actress Tian Pujun (田朴珺) who is best known for her supporting role in TV costume drama “Legend of Zhen Huan.”

Tian Pujun, the rumoured mistress

Wang, who is almost 30 years older than Tian, is rumored to have divorced with his first wife, Wang Jianghui (王江穗), daughter of the retired deputy party secretary of Guangdong Province.

Wang has yet to give a formal response to the scandal and so far has merely said “let one’s privacy be private.”

Born in 1951 to a military family whose father served as the subordinate of the country’s famous general Wang Zhen in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Wang too was enrolled in the army when he turned 17 and was stationed in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

After completing his five-year military duty, Wang worked as a furnace worker for the Zhenzhou Railway Station Bureau and later, at 23-years-old, was admitted to Lanzhou Jiaotong University while his father served as director of the Liuzhou Railway Station Bureau.

In 1980, Wang went on to work for the Guangzhou Overseas Trade and Economy Commission, but quit six years later in order to seek his first pot of gold amid the massive group of officials-turned-businessmen during the early stages of the country’s economic reform.

He made his first profits in the fodder business, which guaranteed him an income of 3 million yuan (US$480,407) that would help him further carve out his empire.

In 1984, he established the Exhibition Center of Modern Scientific and Educational Equipment, the predecessor to his later widely-acclaimed China Vanke Co., Ltd.

As much as the other private entrepreneurs at that time, Wang worked feverishly to make a fat margin from his agent business, covering almost all commodities-as long as they were legal.

In 1988, he won the bid for a piece of land in Shenzhen to build several villa blocks and in doing so ushered in his legend of real estate tycoon on the rise. In 1989, Vanke completed its share-holding reform by attracting 28 million yuan in pool. In 1991, the company became the second listed firm on the Shenzhen stock market.

Nowadays, China Vanke Co., Ltd. is one of the country’s biggest real estate companies, specialized in developing residential houses and apartments. By 2009, it had expanded its business to over 20 cities throughout the country. In 2011, its net profit reached 9.62 billion yuan, registering a yearly growth of 32.2 percent.

Wang has earlier warned of China’s real estate bubble getting too big. In addition, the tycoon predicted that the bubble’s burst is now only a matter of time.

Aside from being a business phenomenon, Wang likes to live life on the edge. He has climbed various mountains and in 2003 managed to reach the peak of Mt. Everest. He also has a passion for writing, publishing a series of books, called "The Spiritual Steps," which contain his own philosophies on life and all it entails.

Wang is among the top 7 highest-paid executives in China in a survey of salary rankings for executives in Chinese listed companies has just concluded, in which seven leaders' salary exceed 10 million yuan ($1.16 million).