Limited spaces available. Join us on 30 March 2009 @ Langham Hotel, Auckland City
International Sustainable Cities Forum
Building Sustainable Cities
Bringing together government and corporate leaders from New Zealand and China to explore the challenges and opportunities of building sustainable cities. Held in conjunction with the 1st Anniversary of the signing of the China-NZ FTA.
Forum succeeds in bringing together Chinese and Kiwi businesses
Friday, 3 April 2009
Press Release: International Sustainable Cities Forum
Forum succeeds in bringing together Chinese and Kiwi businesses
The International Sustainable Cities Forum held on 30 March brought together government and business leaders from both China and New Zealand. Forum spokesperson Kenneth Leong says: “We had a capacity crowd. It was great to see a good mix of New Zealand and Chinese businesspeople, all enthusiastically discussing business opportunities.”
Wang Shi, Chairman of Vanke, the largest property developer in China, talked about his personal experience with global warming as a mountaineer. He also discussed the significant impact of construction activities on the environment and the need for new ways of doing things in order for a more sustainable future.
Mr. Wang is widely regarded as the Godfather of Chinese real estate. A fan of Sir Edmund Hillary, Wang has also completed the Adventure Grand Slam known as the 7+2, reaching the seven highest peaks across seven continents, and the 2 poles, becoming the oldest person in the world to do so.
Mr. Wang believes that there are good prospects for more partnerships between Chinese and New Zealand firms. A number of Chinese businesspeople present also echoed his sentiments, expressing interest in a number of products and services New Zealand has to offer.
Local participants comprising of property developers, investors, exporters, architects and building materials suppliers were also excited about opportunities for cooperation. Mark Taylor, Chairman of FRAMECAD, a niche manufacturer of steel building solutions, commended the organisers. “It was an unprecedented opportunity to forge close bonds with key influencers within the Chinese building industry and regional government. “
Another participant, Mr David McConnell, Managing Director of McConnell Group says: “The McConnell Property team has thoroughly enjoyed being part of the International Sustainable Cities Forum. It has been a wonderful opportunity to meet a large number of Chinese decision makers and build relationships with China, a key trading partner. We gained a greater understanding of China’s approach to sustainability across property development and share Mr Wang’s commitment to this approach.”
The Forum organisers, New Zealand Chinese Herald and Euroasia, accompanied the Chinese delegates on various site visits to explore New Zealand’s approach to building sustainable cities. Mr. McConnell adds: “We were very proud to be chosen to showcase McConnell Property’s pathway towards sustainable property development in New Zealand. And some of the delegates who visited our Addison development in Auckland’s Takanini seemed genuinely interested in the concept of an Addison-type community in their hometowns.”
Before departing, Mr. Wang said: “I would like to return to New Zealand in December to climb Mt Cook.” Local businesspeople would be enthusiastically awaiting his arrival.
ENDS
Tags: chinese herald, euroasia, framecad, international sustainable cities forum, kenneth leong, mcconnell, new zealand, property, vanke, wang shi
Forum on Wang Shi’s blog
On Wang Shi’s blog 2 April 09
天维网3月31日报道，国际生态花园城市与社区发展论坛于3月30日在奥克兰举行，新西兰内政部长Richard Worth博士、中国驻新西兰特命全权大使张利民先生、中国驻奥克兰总领事廖菊华女士、奥克兰市长John Banks先生、中国万科集团董事长王石先生、中国江苏省常州市武进区区长徐伟南先生、浙江省长兴县副县长鲁有平先生以及中国城市地产开发商策略联盟主席 孟刚先生出席了此次论坛，并在论坛上发表演讲。
内政部长Richard Worth
John Banks市长
论坛就目前全世界最热门的话题“可持续发展”作为主题展开了讨论。新西兰内政部长Richard Worth以及奥克兰市长John Banks自然不会放弃这样一个在中国企业家面前宣传新西兰以及拉投资的机会，他们对中国与新西兰关系做了高度的评价并极力推荐新西兰的投资环境；他们还 表示会好好利用2010年上海世博会这个平台，大力展示新西兰的特色：绿色环保、现代和国际化。
张利民大使
张利民大使称中国目前有6亿人口居住在城镇，占整个中国人口的45.68%，城镇的可持续发展对中国来说同样具有极其重要的战略性意义。张大使表示中国城镇的建设方兴未艾，中国要走一条具有中国特色的城镇科学发展道路。
王石，作为中国最有传奇色彩和争议性的企业家，自然成为这次论坛中最受关注的焦点。只可惜，似乎没人对他如何看待“可持续发展”感兴趣。
王石1951年出生，现为中国最大住宅发展商万科企业股份有限公司创始人，董事会主席。他的公司年销售额为409.9亿人民币，净利润40亿元人民币。结算销售面积为451万平方米，总资产为1192亿元人民币。
王石
王石的自传《道路与梦想》成为大陆的畅销书。作为登山运动的爱好者，2003年成功登顶珠穆朗玛峰。至今保持着登顶珠峰最年长者的中国记录。先后完成了攀登世界七大洲最高峰和穿越南北极的创举。
纽约时报称他为“58岁的地产巨头和探险家，堪比布兰森爵士”；《时代杂志》把他比喻为“中国的特朗普”。
这位在52岁时还能将珠峰踩在脚下的职业经理人昨天表现的显然不够圆滑，当着新西兰政客以及全场嘉宾和媒体的面，给新西兰泼了一大盆冷水。
某奥克兰女房产开发商提了一个全场都热切期盼的问题–王石是否会在新西兰进行投资。王石的回答简单明了，NO！
四川地震后王石“中国是个灾害频发的国家，赈灾慈善活动是个常态，企业的捐赠活动应该可持续，而不成为负担。”的言论让他成为众矢之的。昨天的论坛上， 有记者就此事向他提问，王石以与大会主题无关为由拒绝回答记者提问，但他谈到了作为一个中国企业家应该承担的责任。虽期间不无无奈的表示，在中国现今体制 下，企业是就算是做善事也会遇到诸多的阻难和困难。他同时也提出，通过改革开放几十年，中国的企业家学会了如何赚钱，但是该如何花钱，如何参加NGO的组 织，还是有很多东西要学。赚钱难，花钱更难。同时王石先生同意中国企业家在社会公益事业上所作不够的说法。
面对新西兰记者的提问，王石表现得很强硬
作为中国最有个性的职业经理人，他给人更多的印象不是坐在办公室指挥公司的运作，而是活跃在户外，攀登一座座高峰。王石此次前来新西兰已经于 上周成功登顶南岛的ALpine山。他还表示将于今年12月再次造访新西兰，目的同样不是为了投资，而是要攀登新西兰最高的库克山。
王石还透露，应新西兰旅游局的邀请，他将担任新西兰旅游“以意见领袖”，在中国宣传新西兰旅游。
Tags: blog, china, international sustainable cities forum, investment, new zealand, vanke, wang shi
Another NZ Herald report on the Forum
Maker of igloo-houses looks to China
4:00AM Wednesday Apr 01, 2009
By Anne Gibson
A Mercer plastic igloo-house maker has been inspired by China’s biggest house builder.
Charles Bree, managing director of Polybreeze International, wanted to discuss his company’s cheap shelters with Wang Shi, chairman of China Vanke Co which has built 200,000 houses in China.
Polybreeze makes Breezepod houses from medium density polyethylene which sell from $9700 to about $15,000.
Bree said the product fitted with Wang’s interests in eco-friendly houses.
Tags: china, international sustainable cities forum, new zealand herald, vanke, wang shi
NZ Herald on the Forum
Tuesday Mar 31, 2009
By Anne Gibson
China’s answer to Donald Trump says New Zealand has a global reputation for building environmentally friendly houses.
Wang Shi is an ex-People’s Liberation Army soldier who now leads China’s country’s biggest house builder, China Vanke.
He was in Auckland yesterday to find out more about eco-friendly residential construction.
“New Zealand has developed excellent ‘green’ houses,” he said.” People know Europe, particularly Norway and Sweden, for environmentally sustainable buildings. But that’s so remote for China. We can learn something from New Zealand which is so much closer.”
Tags: china, export, international sustainable cities forum, investment, new zealand, new zealand herald, property, sustainable development, vanke, wang shi
TV3 news segment on Wang Shi and Forum
We were on 3 News last night.
China’s own Donald Trump talks on the environment
A billionaire hailed as China’s own Donald Trump has met with New Zealand companies to discuss highly sought-after export partnerships.
3 News segment on International Sustainable Cities Forum
Tags: china, international sustainable cities forum, investment, new zealand, tv3, vanke, wang shi
Time Magazine on Wang Shi
Wang Shi will be speaking at the International Sustainable Cities Forum and will be participating in the Q&A session.
Time Magazine’s feature on Wang Shi entitled Changing the Game in China
Who would think that China’s Donald Trump would be an ex-People’s Liberation Army soldier who majored in drainage at the Lanzhou Railroad College? But Wang Shi, who made a spectacular decision in 1984 when he moved to a tiny backwater called Shenzhen, is the country’s most successful real estate mogul. He heeded Deng Xiaoping’s call to explore the virtues of capitalism, starting a trading company that moved everything from copy machines to the odd crate of shellfish. Although private property was still a dirty word in communist China, in 1993 Wang invested in real estate. He had heard of a man named Trump, and he was intrigued. “I didn’t know much about management,” he says. “But I thought, Western companies already did it well, so why not just copy that?”
Today Wang’s real estate company, Vanke, has projects in 20 cities across China. It had revenues last year of more than $930 million. If his firm grows as it has over the past decade, Vanke in another 10 years could become the world’s largest housing provider. Sixty percent of urban Chinese own their homes, up from practically zero when Wang started. And Shenzhen, that sleepy town where Wang, 54, made his base? It’s a booming metropolis of 12 million people–one of dozens of cities that have sprouted across the nation seemingly overnight. “You blink in China, and another building goes up,” says Wang. –By Hannah Beech/ Shanghai, with reporting by Bu Hua/ Shenzhen
Time Magazine, 20 Jun 05
Tags: china, international sustainable cities forum, property, time magazine, vanke, wang shi
New York Times on Wang Shi
Wang Shi is one of the keynote speakers at the International Sustainable Cities Forum.
New York Times featured Wang Shi last year. This is the story:
ON A COLD JANUARY AFTERNOON, several hundred Chinese converged on a bookstore in a Beijing shopping center called the Creative Zone. As U2’s anthem “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” swelled in the background, their eyes were drawn to a video montage of a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard projected onto a wall behind a raised stage. As the music faded, the man himself appeared, dressed in jeans and a black leather jacket, and the audience fell into a reverential hush.
This was Wang Shi. A 58-year-old tycoon-adventurer in the mold of Sir Richard Branson, he had come to promote his second book, in which he retraces the journey of a seventh-century Buddhist monk across China, Central Asia and India. But the standing-room-only audience, most of them migrants and professionals half his age, seemed more interested in being enlightened about the secrets of his financial success than in hearing about his travels.
Wang is the founder and chairman of China Vanke Company, the largest housing developer in China and soon, perhaps, the world. Though virtually unknown in the West, the former People’s Liberation Army soldier has become a hero in his homeland. His story — a poor migrant leaps to the top of China’s most transformative industry — encapsulates not only the rise of his ambitious nation but also the aspirations of China’s growing middle class. As Wang talked to the crowd about building his giant real estate company, the audience leaned forward expectantly. “You have to let go, to make a choice,” he told them. “Find one important thing, concentrate on it and you’ll reach your goal.”
Tags: china, international sustainable cities forum, property, united states, vanke, wang shi
China Vanke wins Architectural Record “Best Client” Award
Hiring talented architects, emphasizing innovative design, and delivering quality housing helped China Vanke earn this year’s award as Best Client.
By Frederik Balfour with Alex Pasternack
China Vanke chairman Wang Shi doesn’t fit the stereotype of the wheeling-and-dealing Chinese property developer. Soft spoken, deferential, and exceedingly fit for 57 years old—he has climbed the highest peaks on all seven continents—Wang comes across as a polymath who sprinkles his conversation with references to American psychologist Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of human needs,” Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona, and the latest green building technologies. With short, cropped hair and a square jaw that lends him a strong resemblance to film director Zhang Yimou, Wang has appeared in television commercials for companies such as Volkswagen, Ping An Insurance, and Motorola, earning millions of dollars that he has given to charity.
He’s also a favorite among China’s architects, a factor that helped his company earn this year’s Best Client award. “I think we are very lucky to work with them,” says Li Hu, partner at Steven Holl Architects, which designed Vanke’s new headquarters under construction in Shenzhen. When Li and Holl presented their “horizontal skyscraper “design with a single building floating over public space, Wang understood the concept immediately, likening it to an American research station built on stilts that he saw on a visit to the South Pole.
Full article in the April 2008 issue.
Tags: architect, best client, vanke, wang shi
NZ Chinese Herald feature on Wang Shi
3月30日，在紐中自由貿易協定簽訂一週年之際，由本報和中國城市房地產開發商策略聯盟聯合主辦的「可持續發展城市論壇」，將在奧克蘭舉辦。
本次高峰論壇將通過主論壇、中外對話、圓桌會議、互結友好城市討論等形式，由紐中城市市長、兩國房地產企業老總，就花園城市建設與社區發展深入交流，共同關注「可持續發展城市」主題。希望通過論壇的舉辦，促進紐中兩國商業領袖增進交流，優勢互補，創造出更大的商機。
從本期起，本報將連續刊發介紹參加「可持續發展城市論壇」的中國「重量級企業」及企業家的文章，以饗讀者。
Tags: auckland, china, chinese herald, international sustainable cities forum, investment, new zealand, vanke, wang shi
Chinese Property Godfather coming to New Zealand
Front page story on the New Zealand Chinese Herald - 24 Feb 09
王石、馮侖等地產「大腕」下月雲集奧克蘭
共同論道「可持續發展城市論壇」
本報記者 青松
不久前，在奧克蘭舉辦的「牛年元宵燈會」上，總理John Key談到備受矚目的全球經濟衰退問題，意味深長地說：如果中國人的餐桌上都擺上紐西蘭的牛奶和羊肉，我敢保證：本國的經濟就絕不會陷入衰退。顯然，中國的巨大商機已經吸引了總理的「眼球」。
在紐中自由貿易協定簽訂一週年之際，由本報和中國城市房地產開發商策略聯盟聯合主辦的「可持續發展城市論壇」，將於3月29日至4月1日在奧克蘭舉辦。此次高峰論壇將聚焦「城市可持續發展」這一主題，為紐中兩國政府、企業間的進一步深入合作提供平台、創造機遇。
Tags: auckland, china, chinese herald, international sustainable cities forum, investment, new zealand, vanke, wang shi
International Sustainable Cities Forum 2009 is brought to you by New Zealand Chinese Herald and Euroasia. We also appreciate the support of McConnell Group, Framecad, China Urban Realty Association and The Embassy of the People's Republic of China in New Zealand.