Life is one adventure after another, says two-time conqueror of Everest

Every mountain is within reach if you keep climbing. This is amply demonstrated by Wang Shi, founder and chairman of China Vanke, the nation’s largest residential real estate developer and the oldest Chinese national to reach the summit of Everest, the highest mountain on Earth.

“Mountain climbing leaves us open to death, and if we can face the fear, we will know how to live on,” Wang said during an inspirational speech titled “Choosing Your Own Path” he delivered as a guest speaker at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) during the celebration of the university’s 25th anniversary.

In his talk, Wang revealed how he founded Vanke and how he insists on high moral business values. The lecture hall was packed with students, faculty members and guests from HKUST, eager to learn the secrets of success for this passionate explorer and pioneering entrepreneur.

Recalling his two successful Everest ascents at the ages of 52 and 59, Wang described them as “close brushes with death”.

During his first conquest of the peak, his oxygen tank ran out before he reached the summit. What drove him on to get to the top was sheer willpower. “On the journey back, I had no choice but to bet my life on an oxygen tank found beside a dead body,” Wang said.

The second conquest proved no easier. Apart from the physical and mental exhaustion Wang experienced, temporary blindness caused by hypoxia also put his life at risk. “But the more scared you are, the harder you have to try. It's only when you have a near-death experience that you know the joy of surviving to the end of the road,” he said.

These adventurous experiences have not only given Wang a greater perspective on the subject of life and death, they have also empowered him to scale every great height in life and become one of the world’s most admired and extraordinary property tycoons.