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®.

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
15 / 90
A bright moon shines through thin clouds above the Tagus, laying a luminous path across the water, with a line of bridge lights in the distance.
A bright moon shines through thin clouds above the Tagus, laying a luminous path across the water, with a line of bridge lights in the distance.
25 · 09 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Tagus Riverside · Sam Wang
LIFE NOTE

Bright Moon

Over the Tagus, moonlight flows like water, a bright moon hanging among thin clouds. Its light falls onto the river, laying down a luminous path.

The lights of the long bridge and the shimmering ripples set each other off, joining in a line; the waters of the Tagus bring the moon to the shore.

“A bright moon rises over the sea; happy Mid-Autumn Festival!”

🥮

I CHING READINGOpen another reading
I CHING READING · Author’s interpretation
Hexagram 30

Li · The Clinging, Clarity

Classic text · interpretive translation
The sun and moon cling to the heavens; grain, grasses and trees cling to the earth.

Li suggests attachment as well as light. The moon is in the sky, its light on the water. Read through this scene, light finds a surface to rest upon, and the ripples become visible.

The moon in the sky and its reflection in the water: presence and image. The dark river and the luminous path: shadow and light. Yin and yang reflect each other; the water does not hold the moon, yet brings its light to the shore.

The bridge carries human lights; the river receives moonlight. The note places these two kinds of light together, then leaves a Mid-Autumn greeting. That is enough.

Reading in briefThe moon above; its light at the shore.
MUSIC VIDEO CHOSEN FOR THIS STORY

May We Live Long · 但愿人长久

Faye Wong

Faye Wong’s “May We Live Long” carries the Mid-Autumn wish a little further. Let the voice accompany the moonlight on the river; the rest can remain unsaid.

Quality adapts to your connection. You can select HD in the player settings.Player not working? Open the original video ↗
READER ECHOES

What stays with you here?

Waiting for your voice
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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
Read this ongoing practice →Chinese original →