Let it be, without forcing it;
English
01
ENGLISH EDITION

Let it be,without forcing it;

Memoirs of a Chinese restaurateur in Portugal, read through life’s changes and the I Ching.

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If you can make ‘creation’ as natural as breathing, it is not because intention is absent; it is because all intention has already dissolved into the breath.
Sam Wang
02 · SERIAL READING

Two parts, twelve moments.

A life told through choices, losses and changes rather than a résumé.

CHAPTER I

Necessity brings change.

From arriving in Lisbon to the Madrid expansion, family, and the pandemic.

CHAPTER II

Change opens the way.

A new digital beginning with XIAOXIONG®.

09 / 12
SERIAL READING

Section IX — Delivery

Between 2013 and 2022, takeaway moved from an extra service to a central part of the restaurant business. Platforms brought orders, but they also placed distance between the restaurant and its own customers.

At first, more orders looked like simple growth. Over time, commissions, pricing power, customer data, and dependence revealed another side of convenience.

Delivery taught me that traffic borrowed from a platform is not the same as a relationship owned by a restaurant. That lesson would later become one of the reasons for building XIAOXIONG.

I CHING READINGOpen another reading
I CHING READING
Hexagram 64 · Wèi Jì 未濟

Not Yet Across

The young fox nearly crosses, but wets its tail. Nothing is favourable. — Zhou Yi · Wei Ji, Judgment

Wei Ji locates incompletion at several points. A ringing phone confirms an order without confirming sustainable delivery; driving personally solves the moment and exposes system costs.

The author’s explanation about timing invites separate questions: what demand was demonstrated, and which methods needed revision? A similar menu years later shows circulation without validating the whole business.

Reading in briefDemand has responded; operation needs its own test.
READER ECHOES

What stays with you here?

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03 · LIFE NOTES

The city passes.
Memory remains.

Photographs and short texts about Lisbon, restaurants, architecture, and the moments that do not fit inside the chapters.

90 translated notes · English edition
Author 04
RESTAURANTS · ARCHITECTURE · HISTORY · I CHING

Half a lifetime
of notes

Hello, I’m Wang Sanxiong — Sam 🤝

The book’s epigraph is my motto, and the starting point for how I understand life, restaurants, and entrepreneurship.

I am a Chinese immigrant living in Portugal, originally from Qingtian, Zhejiang, and a restaurant owner. I love architecture and the history behind it; I love the I Ching, and use Eastern wisdom to interpret the stories hidden behind history.

A battle for small and medium-sized restaurants to reclaim their own customer channels;
The second half of life should be more exciting than the first — that is only reasonable;

【XIAOXIONG®】

XIAOXIONG®; it is not an advertisement in this book. It is proof that, in the second half of life, I am still willing to change.

FOUNDER OF XIAOXIONGWang Sanxiong · Sam Wang
Read this ongoing practice →Chinese original →