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
75 / 90
Three fishermen on a wooden pier beside the Vasco da Gama Bridge
Three fishermen on a wooden pier beside the Vasco da Gama Bridge
21 · 08 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Lisbon · Sam Wang
LIFE NOTE

The Fishermen

Under the new bridge at the northern end of Parque das Nações, three fishermen are fishing from a wooden pier. On the boards lies a good catch for the day: a corvina, or meagre.

One of them is a fellow Chinese from Jinhua. He says, “Whether you catch anything or not, it’s the process you enjoy.” There’s a lot of philosophy in that sentence.

“A fisherman can catch anything except fish.”

I CHING READINGOpen another reading
I CHING READING · Author’s interpretation
Hexagram 5

Xu · Waiting

Classic text · interpretive translation
Waiting: with sincerity, radiant success. Constancy brings good fortune. It is favourable to cross the great river. — Zhou Yi · Xu, Judgment

Xu brings preparation together with a response still to come. The fisher chooses place and patience without determining when a fish bites; that boundary gives waiting substance.

Enjoying the process gives time value beyond the outcome. An existing catch and the next possibility coexist; satisfaction may also lie in still wanting to sit there.

Reading in briefPrepare, and allow the response its own timing.
MUSIC VIDEO CHOSEN FOR THIS STORY

Journey · 旅行

Xu Wei · 1080p HD

The fisherman from Jinhua speaks of enjoying the process, like a reminder to me. The song accompanies that freedom: after coming so far, do not look only at what you bring back;

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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 →