Yesterday, at the "Realizing the Chinese Dream" themed forum jointly hosted by the University of Cambridge, the Shenzhen (property market) Commerce Association, the China Entrepreneurs Forum, the Alxa SEE Ecological Association, and the Vanke Foundation, Wang Shi delivered a keynote speech as one of the hosts. He mainly introduced Vanke's practices in green building materials and energy conservation and emission reduction in recent years, and stated that the company is transforming toward sustainable development. Regarding the currently hotly debated issue of housing price trends, Wang Shi was reluctant to elaborate, saying only: "China's real estate trends from 2014 to 2016 are uncertain."

 

　　Currently, reports of discounted and promotional property sales are frequent across various regions, and there are signs of this spreading from second- and third-tier cities to first-tier cities. This has also ignited a debate among industry leaders over market prospects. Pan Shiyi, chairman of SOHO China, is a representative of those betting on falling housing prices. He said that if China indeed delivers on issuing the regulations for unified real estate registration before June this year and implements them within the year, housing prices will fall immediately; however, Wang Jianlin, chairman of the Wanda Group, publicly attacked the theory of a sharp housing price plunge.

 

　　Wang Shi has now passed retirement age. While expanding his real estate business to overseas markets such as the UK and the US, he has also gradually stepped back from the housing market in recent years. From 2011 to 2013, he studied abroad successively, and he is currently a visiting scholar at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge. If pursuing education was Wang Shi's first dream, "founding a university is my next dream, and my last dream is to build a farm in the desert." Wang Shi admitted frankly at the forum, "In 2020, I will go to the desert to build a farm."