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
56 / 90
A Washington palm grows almost horizontally in Parque das Nações, held by wooden supports while its crown continues upward
A Washington palm grows almost horizontally in Parque das Nações, held by wooden supports while its crown continues upward
01 · 09 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Expo grounds · Sam Wang
LIFE NOTE

Crooked Neck

The Washington palm (Washingtonia), commonly called the ‘old-man palm’ in Chinese, is a familiar street tree around the Expo grounds.

A ‘crooked-neck’ palm growing sideways. Although its trunk has completely ‘lain down’, almost touching the ground, its tip still bends stubbornly upward and has grown a full green crown.

Two wooden supports hold up its stubborn conviction.

“Sometimes, all life needs is a point of support;”

I CHING READINGOpen another reading
I CHING READING · Author’s interpretation
Hexagram 46

Sheng · Pushing Upward

Classic text · interpretive translation
Within the earth, wood grows: the image of Pushing Upward. The noble one accumulates small things to achieve what is high and great.

Sheng uses a growing tree as its image; the photograph reveals the support growth depends upon. Crown, trunk and braces together compose its present condition.

Describing conviction is a poetic reading, while the brace has a concrete function. With people too, attention to how help works keeps praise of resilience from concealing received support.

Reading in briefSee the growth and the conditions supporting it.
MUSIC VIDEO CHOSEN FOR THIS STORY

Through Wind and Rain · 风雨无阻

Wakin Chau · 1080p HD

The two supports remind me that even someone who has come far needs help. The song recalls that our stubbornness alone does not hold a life up;

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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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 →