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
47 / 90
An orange fish and a white fish swim in a round fishbowl on the office desk
An orange fish and a white fish swim in a round fishbowl on the office desk
05 · 09 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Office · Sam Wang
LIFE NOTE

The Fishbowl

There is a new fishbowl in the office, with two fish in it;

I told Xiao Li at the office: ‘Buy two fish that are easy to look after—the kind that won’t starve if they go three days without food.’ Xiao Li bought me two.

‘Fish have only seven seconds of memory;’ a widely circulated scientific myth.

I gave them names: the plumper one is ‘Xiaobao’; the slimmer, white one is ‘Dabao’;

‘Dabao, Xiaobao, Daddy misses you;’

😄!

I CHING READINGOpen another reading
I CHING READING · Author’s interpretation
Hexagram 37

Jia Ren · The Family

Classic text · interpretive translation
They love one another. — Zhou Yi · Jia Ren, Image, line 5

Jia Ren emphasises reciprocal affection. Giving fish the daughters’ names offers longing a place; hearing the children still requires actual contact.

The joke about easy care brings its practical conditions into view. Affection has symbols and tasks: both fish and family have needs that longing cannot replace.

Reading in briefNames carry longing; care happens in daily life.
MUSIC VIDEO CHOSEN FOR THIS STORY

Kiss My Baby · 亲亲我的宝贝

Wakin Chau · 1080p HD

Dabao, Xiaobao, Daddy misses you;

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

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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.