Let it be, without forcing it;
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
63 / 90
A view from the shopping centre towards Gare do Oriente as commuters cross between traffic lights and city traffic
A view from the shopping centre towards Gare do Oriente as commuters cross between traffic lights and city traffic
28 · 08 · 2026 · Vasco da Gama Shopping Centre · Gare do Oriente · Sam Wang
LIFE NOTE

Commuters

From the second floor of the Expo shopping centre, I look across at Gare do Oriente. It looks like a giant whale.

The ribbed vaults of a Gothic church blend perfectly into the form of an enormous blue-whale skeleton on display.

Commuters hurry between the traffic lights. They are in a rush;

Gare do Oriente—the transport hub for the commuters of the Parque das Nações business district.

I CHING READINGOpen another reading
I CHING READING · Author’s interpretation
Hexagram 32

Heng · Duration

Classic text · interpretive translation
Thunder and wind: Duration. The noble one stands firm without changing direction. — Zhou Yi · Heng, Image

Heng concerns continuity of direction; the station organises many destinations into routine. From afar it resembles a whale; up close there are schedules people need to keep.

The scale of contemplating a city meets that of crossing it. Order depends on access and connections working repeatedly; continuity lives in reliable details.

Reading in briefA great structure serves people through small details.
MUSIC VIDEO CHOSEN FOR THIS STORY

The Nameless · 无名的人

Mao Buyi · 1080p HD

I recognise those hurried steps because I was a commuter too. I hear days I lived in this song, not merely silhouettes at a station;

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?

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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.