Wang, born in 1951 in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, established the Shenzhen Modern Scientific Education Equipment Distribution Centre in 1984, which became known later as China Vanke Co Ltd.

Vanke has since become mainland's largest residential real-estate developer, with around 200 billion yuan ($32 billion) in sales in 2014. It garnered a listing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 1991.

Although Vanke has only constructed 3 percent of mainland's total residential properties, the company claims to have constructed about 30 percent of the region's green buildings.

Wang says an important green building technology favored by Vanke is prefabrication, which saves significant amounts of timber, water and energy compared to traditional technologies.

Prefab entails the assembling of a building's components in a factory and transporting them to the construction site where the structure is to be located.

In 2009, Vanke built the first top-level green project certified by the government. The following year, Vanke built half the "three-star" green projects on the mainland.

The rating system by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs awards one to three stars (three being the highest) for every building that achieves the highest standards in the usage of energy, water, land and materials.

Vanke has opened several research and development centers since 2000 to examine green building technologies in mainland cities including Guangdong and Beijing.

It is also in the process of setting up research and development centers overseas, such as in the US and the uk, to take advantage of the best technology and talent around the world.

"Having long-term vision is a great way to stay ahead of competition," says Wang.

Another important shift for Vanke is the company's greater use of its overseas network of agencies to help mainland customers study, tour and invest abroad.

Currently, Vanke has around a million residential households in its customer base, but Wang believes this amount will increase dramatically in 10 years' time and hopes to use the company's overseas network of agencies to provide these customers with practical services.

"We will cooperate with our overseas partners to provide reliable information to our Chinese customers if they wish to study, tour and invest abroad. This is a win-win program that can maximize the efficiency of our resources and networks," Wang says.

These agencies, for instance, can help customers find schools or universities abroad for their children, a process that Wang claims is far more convenient than if customers went out scouting schools for themselves.

Aside from the new developments at Vanke, the last few years have been a time of personal growth and achievement for Wang. Reflecting on his stints at the two universities, Wang attributes his constant pursuit of learning to his early education experience.

Having graduated with a bachelor's degree in water supply and drainage from Lanzhou University in Gansu province, Wang says one of his biggest dreams growing up had always been to study at a leading overseas university.

"I think I gave up my dream at the age of 50, and instead decided to achieve life challenges through adventurous activities," Wang says.

What followed were Wang's headline-worthy achievements in mountaineering and seafaring from 2002 to 2005.

Then in 2010, Wang was invited the Harvard China Fund to study at the Ivy League US university as a visiting scholar. It was an opportunity he could not pass up.

For Wang, then nearly 60, it was a difficult time, having to learn English from scratch and live an unfamiliar lifestyle.

"I didn't even know how to open a bank account. I had to experience all sorts of simple things for the first time, but it was a valuable learning process," he says.

"When I first arrived at Harvard, the academic pressure was pretty full-on. I had to study until around 2 or 3 in the morning, and borrow my classmates' notes to read," Wang recalls. "I was exhausted, but excited, as I have always loved learning new things, and wanted to travel abroad to study."

Contact the writer at cecily.liu@chinadaily.com.cn