Entrepreneur: Wang Jianlin is one of China's richest and most influential billionaires. Credit:Sanghee Liu But clinging to the top of the corporate pile anywhere requires being attuned to shifts in political winds – particularly in China. A cooling real estate market after decades of frenetic growth – nudging Mr Wang from top spot to fourth on this year's Forbes China rich list – has had the 60-year-old looking elsewhere. Mr Wang's ambition now is for global influence, and not just purely in business. He has poured funds into movie studios, theme parks and other ventures of the Wanda "cultural enterprise" arm since Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed that entrepreneurs should "enhance Chinese culture as the country's soft power tool", in keeping with the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese dream". "The fast growth [in property] has ended," Mr Wang said on Saturday. "Our goal is to increasingly bring Chinese culture to the world."

Out of this world: At the Wanda Movie Park, visitors can go on rides simulating Chinese space exploration. Credit:Sanghee Liu In Wuhan, the birthplace of the brilliant Chu culture famous for pioneering advances in silk, embroidery and the arts in the early Warring States period, Mr Wang offered a glimpse of his vision, spending another 50 billion yuan to create a 1.5-kilometre cultural street, bookended by two ostentatious landmarks. One is the Wanda Movie Park, an indoor theme park adorned with golden sails reminiscent of the Sydney Opera House, where visitors can go on rides simulating Chinese space exploration, a flyover of the Three Gorges Dam, and a shoot-em-up inspired by Journey to the West, which follows the exploits of the Monkey King, Sun Wukong – one of the few Chinese mythical tales to have gained mainstream popularity in the English-speaking world. On the other end is a theatre hall shaped like a giant, gleaming red lantern, which houses the Han Show, marketed as a "stage spectacle considered the most ambitious in the world ... inspired by the spirit of Han nationality". Defying easy description, the show is a mish-mash Chinese-themed extravaganza of moving stage floors, frenetic light displays, acrobats, jet-skis and divers hurtling into a pool from 20 metres high – all interspersed with healthy servings of interpretive dance. "Chinese people today have strong demand for culture, but we need effective supply and China need innovative cultural products," Mr Wang said.

Like other Chinese property moguls, Mr Wang has begun to expand and diversify aggressively overseas – buying up cinema chains in the United States, a luxury yacht business in Britain, and high-end property developments in Europe. In Australia, Wanda has committed more than $1.5 billion in recent months, including the beachfront Surfer's Paradise site Jewel. On Saturday, Mr Wang said he planned to announce two more major projects next month, bringing Wanda's total commitment in Australia to about $3.7 billion. He declined to provide further detail, citing confidentiality clauses. But it is his entertainment ambitions that have garnered the greatest attention. He is building a $9 billion "Chinese Hollywood" in the north-eastern port city of Qingdao, complete with 20 movie studios, indoor theme park and yacht club. He flew in dozens of A-list international celebrities for the groundbreaking ceremony last year, including Nicole Kidman, Leonardo DiCaprio, John Travolta and Tony Leung Chiu-wai. In 2012, Mr Wang bought AMC Entertainment Holdings, the second-largest US cinema chain. With a stated ambition of controlling 20 per cent of the global film market by 2020, he has entered talks to buy large stakes in Hollywood studios Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Lions Gate Entertainment, which owns The Hunger Games and Twilight franchises. Sun Yishuang, a major Wanda shareholder, is also behind a move to buy Australian theatre chain Hoyts for a reported $900 million.

With the bilateral free-trade agreement between Australia and China concluded, it is worth noting it is not just state-owned enterprises that are in lockstep with the government. For most Chinese companies, it is simply good business to align itself with what its government wants. Mr Xi, a long-time football fan, has also lamented the parlous state of the men's national team and has expressed his hope that China could qualify, host, and eventually win the World Cup, prompting high-profile entrepreneurs including, property rival Xu Jiayin and Alibaba founder Jack Ma, to invest heavily in Chinese football. Mr Wang, too, is funding football academy scholarships in Spain for promising Chinese youngsters. Much like Hollywood blockbusters and American pop culture has its extensive reach around the world, the likes of Mr Wang aim for Chinese celebrities, film music and art to be instantly recognisable globally. "Do we have some sort of affection for culture? No, we're businessmen. We look at culture because we can make money," Mr Wang says. "Cultural industry is being developed by the government, so that's why we're doing business around it."