Background
Wang Shi was born on January 23, 1951, Liuzhou, Guangxi, China.
石 王
Wang Shi was born on January 23, 1951, Liuzhou, Guangxi, China.
Wang joined the People’s Liberation Army in 1968 and graduated from the Drainage Department of Lanzhou Railroad College in 1978.
After his graduation, Wang first worked for the Guangzhou Railway Bureau, and then for Guangdong Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation. In 1984, with Deng Xiaoping’s call to explore the virtues of capitalism, Wang made a spectacular decision to move to Shenzhen, which was still a small town. He organized a trading company named the Shenzhen Exhibition Center of Modern Science and Education Equipment, which moved everything from copying machines to foodstuffs. With the support of the government, the company made its first profits.
In 1988, a spin-off from the original state-owned company was reorganized into China Vanke Co. Ltd, a shareholding company of which Wang became the chairman, general manager and legal representative. Vanke was one of the first shareholding companies in China. Under Wang’s leadership, Vanke turned into a multi-business corporation. During its initial growth period, in addition to investing in two movies, its mineral water, Yibao, was the best-selling product among the local brands in Guangdong Province, and the Wanjia supermarket was among Shenzhen’s top-ten supermarkets.
In the late 1980s, the Chinese government started its housing reforms and encouraged people to own their own homes. Sensing the change in policies, Wang believed that real estate would become the next booming industry and a main driving force of China’s economy in the coming decades. As a result, unlike most Chinese companies of the time, Vanke announced in 1993 that it was giving up its multipleline operations and focusing solely on real estate. This meant selling Yibao, still among the most popular brands. Wang emphasized that Vanke should develop steadily. Once he said Vanke would not touch any projects claiming more than a 25 percent rate of profit, a remark that was widely quoted by the mass media.
In 1991, Vanke became a listed company on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE). Within 17 years, it was the largest property developer listed in the People’s Republic of China, with projects in more than 20 major cities across the Pearl River Delta, the Yangzi River Delta, and the Bohai Economic Rim. In 2006 it had revenues of around US$30 billion. Vanke is well known for its continuous success. It has delivered uninterrupted profits for the longest period of all Chinese listed companies. In addition, Vanke has become a famous real estate brand with a good reputation. Throughout the history of the company, Wang has made changes, and each time the change initially seemed incompatible with the business situation; however, as time passed, Wang’s decisions have proved prophetic.
After stepping down as Vanke CEO in 1999, Wang, who remains board chairman, found a new passion and began to climb mountains which has made him a national star. He is one of four native Chinese who have successfully climbed the world’s highest peaks, and he holds the record as the oldest mountaineer in the PRC to conquer those peaks. As a prominent and responsible business leader, Wang has also served as an official on several national associations dealing with real estate and commerce. In order to contribute to the building of a more harmonious society, Vanke under Wang started to construct inexpensive rental apartments for low-income people in 2006.