"Since I was young, my family has always called me Xiao Fang ('little Fang' as 'Fang' is my given name). Therefore, I named this song 'Xiao Fang' after my name."
The song "Xiao Fang" was popular in China back then. The young Frank Shu (Fang Shu) was the investor and music producer behind the song, which was named after him.
Influenced by his family, Frank learned to play the erhu, a Chinese two-stringed fiddle, at the age of two, and the pipa, a traditional Chinese musical instrument, at the age of five. However, with a desire to become a businessman, he chose to major in International Trade at the university. During that period, Frank made a big fortune through foreign exchange trading, through which he earned his first million yuan by stock trading at the age of 20. After that, his investment in music records brought him huge profits. Wunderkind, success, and wealth became his labels at the time.
"Back then, my record company was very influential in China, and it was one of the few record companies that had successfully launched pop stars. I reckoned that China needed its own pop stars and I was capable of making a local Chinese star. That kind of lifestyle made me more and more disdainful and arrogant. To me, money seemed to come so easily, so I would squander any money I earned because a lot of money would come in tomorrow anyway," he said.
Frank’s elder sister saw all of this, yet she did not immerse herself in the enjoyment brought by his success like he did, but became worried for him.
He continued, "She referred me to a verse from the Bible, telling me: 'Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.' No matter how perfect you think your plan for yourself is, it is God who decides whether you succeed or not. Your pride will certainly offend God. You should believe that there is a God who is the ruler of heaven and earth.' I said: 'My sister, you are not sharp enough, so you really need this God to help you. I'm so smart and I have always been sharper than you, so I don’t need God. I can entirely rely on myself.'"
However, his sister's reminder was soon fulfilled. Frank could never imagine that just as his career was booming, a major crisis was about to break out, so severe that he could not overcome it.
"One day, I was going to a fashion awards party. On that day I was in a good mood as usual and was about to attend as a very successful person. I suddenly received a call from my company in the car. My company's financial guy said: 'Mr. Shu, we need to pay salaries tomorrow but we don’t have enough money.' I said that was impossible. In my head, my company's money was endless."
The financial manager revealed to him that the company's assets had been embezzled by his closest partner. This explosive inside story was beyond his belief and unacceptable for him.
"Because I believed that the people around me all respected me or were even afraid of me - because I felt that everything was well under my control. I always thought that no one could live without me," he confessed.
Due to investment misjudgment and overconfidence, his partners and contracted artists chose to betray him at the same time. This was not only emotionally heavy for him, but also affected his own life.
"That was totally pulling the rug from under me. It caught me off guard without any warning. I was left with not just nothing, but negative assets, because I was the legal person of the company, and accountable for all of the creditor's rights and debts. I remember having almost million-yuan debts, but back then I didn't even have a place to live, let alone millions of yuan."
Frank claimed, "When everyone forgot about me, I suddenly remembered the Lord Jesus that my sister often mentioned to me, that He is your refuge and ever-present help in troubled times. So I tried to pray. I prayed: 'Lord Jesus, although I don't know you, and maybe my pride has offended you, but today I am willing to admit my weakness. I ask you to help me.'"
Frank could not sleep for several days, and his family knew nothing about it. He only got to leave this sad place when his sister offered him a flight ticket to the United States and invited him to rejoin his family. Nevertheless, the trip to the US made a major change in his life.
"I returned to my home in the United States, and my sister took me to church. I happened to attend a 40-day prayer meeting of the church. I felt that being in the church calmed me down, and I could feel the warmth of the church, and I could tell that the care and love from the brothers and sisters were not out of selfishness or seeking profit. When I first heard the pastor saying that ‘whether you know this God or not, He has already loved you; whether you accept this love or not, He has always been loving you’, my tears came out again, so I began to say in my heart again and again: I am willing, I am willing to accept you; I need you, and I need your love. Because I felt I was a failed, helpless, and unwanted person, but that God wanted me and had never given up on me. In the prayer meeting, a voice kept crying in my heart: 'Lord God, I love you!'"
Shu immediately wrote down this hymn that had been in his heart, "Lord I Love You". Because of God's love, he gained the courage to face his life again.
"Indeed it was through prayers that I was able to rise up again. Since I had nothing left with me, I didn’t want to hurt myself by clinging onto the things that had passed, and I no longer thought of people who had hurt me. I wanted to forget all of it and I returned to Beijing to start again."
After returning to China, Shu started his new business to produce gospel music. He wanted to use music to bear witness to the changes in his life and pass on God’s love.
"My worldly achievements in music actually prepared me to use them to work for God now. My previous success and the so-called smartness are not of my own but given by God. I think early on God had already made a wonderful plan," he concluded.
- Translated by Grace Song
