林祥雄，何许人也？

　　艺术家，企业家，社会活动家，华侨……了解他的人可以给他列出许多头衔；但是，在我看来，“中华民族之赤子”才是对他最好的说明和称呼。此“家”彼“家”，说的都是他的特长和身份，而“赤子”则是他的本质，他的心灵，他的境界；何况，此“家”呀彼“家”呀，太多了，唯“赤子”却尚少见。

　　少小在人鬼莫辨的时代中熬过，继而漂流海外，饱尝奴役之苦。特别是那个年龄在海外，他可能沉沦颓废，也可能听天由命，甚至可能铤而走险；但他却选择了奋斗：与“命运”斗，与环境斗，与自己的不足斗。他成功了，在他介身其中的所有领域，他最终都成功了。对不幸时代的反思，对祖国未来的祈望，对中华文化之根——流淌在他血脉中的基因——的酷爱和眷恋，这就是炎黄子孙之为炎黄子孙的本能。

　　孟夫子说过：“天将降大任于是人也，必先苦其心志，劳其筋骨，饿其体肤，空乏其身，行拂乱其所为，所以动心忍性，曾益其所不能。”这似乎说的就是他。

　　幼时的艰难、悲惨、颠沛、坎坷，其时他未必明其所以然，但刻骨铭心的记忆却在经历磨练的岁月里得以升华，让他参透了历史：人类或许有着摆不脱的“宿命”——安宁动荡安宁折磨……真理就在这一漫长的旅程中逐渐形成，凝聚、深化、显现，而社会、人类也缓慢地成熟，终究要走到和谐、和睦、和平。他就是为了这一遥远而宏大的目标而画，而从商，而以商“养”他的画。他对作画之执著，既出于自幼对艺术皇冠上的明珠——绘画的热爱，更是由于他要用善良之笔去讴歌人性中的美好，这实际上也就是在鞭挞邪恶和罪孽。“生存是为了艺术”，朴实的话语，深刻的心声。壶口瀑布，巍峨长城，黄土高坡，家乡海滩，他留下了脚印，更镌刻了不可言说的爱恋。

　　他的眼光没有局限于自身和所赖以生活的城市，甚至不局限于所自己的祖国。现实——地球的现实，仍然充满了掠夺、欺骗、仇杀和血腥，但是历代仁人志士从未中断过对真理和光明的追求，这是人类社会的制衡器。他要成为抵消和冲淡那些邪恶，让人类命运的天平向着正义一端倾斜的一棵草。在他的画作里，我们可以在丛林中看到南洋劳作者的微小身影，在苍茫暮色里看到回港小憩的勤苦渔民，伊拉克的废墟、黑非洲的贫瘠，高耸入云大厦下的扫街“外劳”、金丝笼内外强烈对比的小鸟，意在言外，情在画中。

　　我不懂画；他的画，尤其不懂，因为看惯了中国传统画、西洋写实派的油画。但是，在了解了他的大半生之后，当我站在他的画室里一幅幅拜读他已成和将成的画作时，似乎豁然开朗了。他喜运“碎笔”，特别爱画云、海、椰林和夕阳，噢!原来这是他的心胸，他的细腻，他的愿望和他观察到的大自然的瞬息万变。他在巴黎学过西洋画法，但最终还是选择了宣纸、毛笔、线勾和多点透视。噢!原来这是驱赶不掉的对自己民族艺术的崇拜。

　　拜访他的画室，是2010年在新加坡举行的“第六届炎黄文化国际研讨会”后，三层小楼，面积不大，家居在顶，一楼辟为画室。内外装修都由他一手包办（这也曾是他赖以糊口的本事），上上下下舒适、大方而朴素。这对于从艰难闲苦中走过来的他而言，可谓近乎金丝笼矣，但是他并没有被囚禁住，作为一个企业家，他也绝不会身陷财富、应酬和欲壑之巾。因为他已经经过了“动心忍性”的历练，已经“增益其所不能”，因为他作为中华民族之赤子的责任永无尽头。君不见他的画展又要在亚欧多国举办了么？君不见为了炎黄文化走向世界他的身影又频频出现于国际航线上了么？

2013年6月15日夜 京郊

　　ho is Lin Xiangxiong?

　　Artist, entrepreneur, social activist, overseas Chinese - the people who know him mayadd many other titles to the list. But, as I see it, "son of the Chinese nation" should be the title that bests depicts him. A11 the other titles relate only to his strong suits and identity, but this particular title relates to his essence, soul and plane reached. Besides, while the other titles are too frequently given, this particular title is rarely seen.

　　After passing his boyhood in years when right and wrong were all confused, he went abroad and suffered the extreme pain of slavery. Especially, it was very likely for a boy of that age to sink into decadence abroad; or he might submit to the will of Heaven or even risk danger in desperation. But, he selected struggle: the struggle against "fate", against the environment and against his own shortcomings. He succeeded. In all the fields he set foot in, he succeeded finally. The reflections upon the years of misfortune, the hopes for the future of the motherland, the ardent love for and the sentimental attachment to the root of the Chinese culture (the gene in his blood) …all these are constituents of the instinct of the Chinese descendants.

　　Mencius said: "When Heaven is going to confer a great responsibility upon someone, it will first make his mind suffer, his sinews and bones toil and his body suffer hunger. It will inflict poverty upon him and knock down everything he tries to build. In this way, Heaven stimulates his mind and addresses his weak points." This appears to be meant for him.

　　He may not necessarily understand why he should have suffered all those hardships, miseries, destitutions and frustrations in his boyhood. But, the unforgettable memory thereof enabled him to sublime in the trying years and gave him thorough comprehension of history: Man may have a predestination that it cannot free itself from-peace - turbulence - peace - torture … However, in the long journey, truth gradually took shape, condensed, deepened and came out,while the society and mankind have also matured slowly and will ultimately arrive at harmony, rapprochement and peace. It is for this grand goal that he paints pictures and does business to support his painting. His obsession in painting originated in the love that he developed in hisboyhood for the pearl on the crown of art - painting and, to an even greater extent, is because he desires to eulogize the niceness in humanity with his pen of kindness, which is in reality his lashes at evils and sins. "Survival is for arts." The plain words reflect profound aspirations. Hukou Waterfall, the majestic Great Wall, the loess plateau and the beaches in his hometown ... these are some of the places where he left both his footprint and unspeakable ove.

　　His eyes are not limited to the city where he lives and even not limited to his own motherland. The reality - reality of the earth is still full of plunders, deceptions, kills in revenge and blood. But, the people with lofty ideas in all ages have never ceased the pursuit of truth and light, which isthe balancer of the human society. He aims to become a grass that sets off and waters down those evils to cause the balance of human destiny to tilt toward justice. In his paintings, we can see the tiny figures of the laborers in the jungles of Southeast Asia, the diligent fishermen returning to port for a respite in the boundless twilight, the ruins in Iraq, the poverty in black Africa, the foreign laborers sweeping streets under towering buildings, bird in a cage forming a sharp contrast. Meanings are implied and the feelings are in the pictures.

　　I do not know much about paintings and even less about his paintings, for I am accustomed to watching traditional Chinese paintings and the oil paintings of Western realistic school. But, after learning about his life, I seemed to have seen suddenly enlightened when I stood in his studio watching the works he had completed or was about to complete. He is fond of using "dotted brushes" and has a special liking for painting clouds, sea, coconut groves and setting sun. So that is his breadth of mind, his subtleness, his desires and the changing nature he has observed. Although he learnt Western painting techniques in Paris, he finally chose rice paper and writing for the lines, strokes and multi-point perspective. So that is his worship for the arts of his own nation that cannot be driven away.

　　My visit to his studio was after "The Sixth International Symposium of the World Forum on Chinese Culture in the 2lst Century' held in Singapore in 2010. That is a three - storey building not large in area. The living rooms are on the top floor and the studio is on the first floor. He personally did all the external and external decorations (which he used to rely on for a living), attaining an effect that is comfortable, good taste and simple. The building may be called a birdcage for him after all the difficulties and hardships, but he has never been encaged. As an entrepreneur, he will never get entrapped in wealth, social interaction and avarice, for he has gone through the tempering of "stimulating his mind and addressing his weak points" in fulfillment of his endless responsibility of a son of the Chinese nation. Soon, the exhibition of his paintings will be held again in a number of Asian and European countries and his figure will again appear frequently on international flights as he travels around the world promoting Yanhuang culture.

In the suburbs of Beijing, on the night of June l 5,  2013