Vanke boss Wang Shi is more than mainland's leading real estate baron. He is an adventurer who never tires of seeking out new peaks to conquer. Cecily Liu reports.

Sailing, gliding and mountaineering - these are a few of his favorite things. For Wang Shi, the founding chairman of China Vanke Co Ltd, the nation's largest residential real estate developer, is really an adventurer at heart.

Between 2002 and 2004, Wang scaled the Seven Summits, the highest mountains in each of the seven continents. In 2005, he reached the North and South Poles.

While Wang's adventurous achievements have long been chronicled, less widely discussed are his recent educational pursuits. From 2011 to 2013, he attended Harvard University as a visiting scholar. Last year, he took several classes at the University of Cambridge.

Looking back, Wang says the study stints abroad greatly transformed and enriched his view of the world. The experience, he says, has also been a powerful influence on how Vanke currently does business.

In recent years, Vanke has shifted focus from purely being a property developer to becoming a national leader in green building technologies.

At the Asia Business Forum hosted by the London Business School in January, Wang said Vanke's evolution began five years ago when he heard then premier Wen Jiabao announce that China would be committed to tackling climate change and reducing carbon emissions.

Vanke then began targeting high-tech construction techniques and expanding its range of property development to resorts and retirement homes.

"I realized Vanke needed to face the future. A commitment to reducing climate change is the responsibility of China as a nation and of its individual entrepreneurs. And it makes business sense in the long term, as greener technologies will lead to reductions in the use of resources like water and timber," he says.

"I want to do more to push the whole green building sector forward, so China can fulfill its promise on climate change."