A flamboyant mainland entrepreneur and a Hong Kong climber make an unlikely pair, but they are soon to complete a remarkable feat - becoming the first Chinese to conquer the highest peaks on seven continents and the North and South Poles.
Wang Shi, chairman of Shenzhen-based property developer China Vanke, and Hong Kong mountaineer Chung Kin-man had already completed separate ascents of the highest mountains and conquered the North Pole as a team. Pending a break in the weather they expect to reach the South Pole today, completing the so-called '7+2' challenge. As the South China Morning Post went to press last night, the two adventurers were just 5km from the pole, but hunkered down under stormy conditions.
Mr Wang and Mr Chung left Hong Kong on December 8, heading first to Punta Arenas at the tip of South America, and then the Patriot Hills Antarctic base on the shores of the Weddell Sea. On December 13, they began their 120km overland trek to the pole.
Mr Wang's love of high mountains stems from his days as a People's Liberation Army driver, a job that took him to some of China's most remote and beautiful regions.
'There are two things I miss most - the mountains of China and the beauty of Xinjiang province,' he said earlier this month.
Leaving the army after 10 years of service, the then 33-year-old native of Guangxi province arrived in Shenzhen in 1983. There, he reinvented himself as a businessman and entrepreneur, starting off as a porter and agricultural produce trader. In 1988, he established a property development company.