01 · 28 · 08 · 2026 · South of the Expo districtPINNED
Performer
The platform outlined in red looks so fragile—like a footnote to walking on thin ice in life.
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ENGLISH EDITION
Let it be,without forcing it;
Memoirs of a Chinese restaurateur in Portugal, read through life’s changes and the I Ching.
HALF A LIFETIME OF NOTES
Let it be,without forcing it;
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
Two parts, twelve moments.
A life told through choices, losses and changes rather than a résumé.
Necessity brings change.
From arriving in Lisbon to the Madrid expansion, family, and the pandemic.
Change opens the way.
A new digital beginning with XIAOXIONG®.
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
02 · 06 · 10 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Oceanarium
Oceanarium II
“The oceanarium sheds the bustle of the day and returns to quiet;”
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03 · 06 · 10 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Beside the oceanarium
Little Stream
“In the lower-left corner, the shadow holds up a phone;”
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04 · 06 · 10 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Lisbon Oceanarium
Oceanarium
“In the distance, two cable cars glide towards the end of the line;”
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05 · 05 · 10 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Vasco da Gama Shopping Centre
Nightfall
“Beneath the streetlights, a family passes, seen from behind;”
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06 · 05 · 10 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Tagus riverside
Low Tide II
“The sky, so blue;”
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22 · 09 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Lago das Tágides · Sam Wang
LIFE NOTE
Bathing Scene
Beside the “Hai Shang Tian” restaurant in Parque das Nações is Lago das Tágides, a public art installation from EXPO ’98.
Scattered through the pool, a group of women sculpted in marble are bathing. They are the nymphs of the Tagus known as “Tágides”; a falua, a traditional Tagus sailing boat, waits in the water.
Hai Shang Tian is a Chinese restaurant, the most frequent gathering place for Lisbon’s Chinese community.
“In the upper left corner, the cable car glides slowly past;”
I CHING READINGOpen another reading
Hexagram 52
Classic text · interpretive translationGen · Keeping Still
Stop when it is time to stop, move when it is time to move; when movement and stillness keep their time, the way is bright.
Gen places one mountain above another and speaks of stopping. Yet the Commentary on the Decision does not ask for perpetual stillness: stopping and moving each have their time. In this photograph, the sculptures remain in the pool while the cable car crosses the sky. Stillness and movement each have their place.
In “Family,” Hai Shang Tian is the setting for an encounter: a young man says he once worked at the author’s restaurant, but the author cannot recognise him. Here, the gaze moves outside and rests on the silent figures in the pool. The place is shared; the moments are different.
The marble has definite contours; its reflections loosen in the ripples. Solid form and reflection, staying and passing, can suggest two aspects of yin and yang without assigning a person or object permanently to either pole. The cable car continues; the gaze pauses by the water. That pause leaves us with “Bathing Scene.”
Reading in briefThe cable car continues; the gaze pauses by the water.Years Flow Like Water · 似水流年
Anita Mui · 1080p HDOne vote per browser per version; change or withdraw it anytime. Votes are for the author’s reference.
Anita Mui’s voice accompanies this pause beside the water. The sculptures left by the Expo remain while the cable car passes slowly: the song echoes what stays and what flows past.
Quality adapts to your connection. You can select HD in the player settings.Player not working? Open the original video ↗READER ECHOES
Waiting for your voiceWhat stays with you here?
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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