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
72 / 90
A closed Burger King with a park bench outside
A closed Burger King with a park bench outside
22 · 08 · 2026 · Lisbon · Neighbourhood centre · Sam Wang
LIFE NOTE

A Weak Market

The Burger King that had opened less than six months ago has finally closed.

When I went there last week, the place already looked worn out. Two elderly people were sitting on a bench by the road outside.

Even a world-famous burger brand, in the neighbourhood’s most central location, couldn’t withstand the prolonged slump.

2026 is the Bing-Wu year in the traditional Chinese calendar. Bing, the Heavenly Stem, is fire; Wu, the Earthly Branch, is fire too. Fire upon fire: a year of intense heat and movement.

But plenty of fire doesn’t mean plenty of business.

Everyone says the second half of this year will be “hard” to get through.

I CHING READINGOpen another reading
I CHING READING · Author’s interpretation
Hexagram 12

Pi · Stagnation

Classic text · interpretive translation
Heaven and earth do not communicate: Stagnation. The noble one preserves virtue through restraint to avoid hardship, and does not seek honour through office. — Zhou Yi · Pi, Image

Pi invites asking whether brand, location and demand remain connected. A closure deserves investigation without being explained by a year’s symbolism.

Fire in the traditional cycle is a symbolic image, not a basis for forecasting sales. The reading returns to verifiable costs, demand and conditions; the timing of recovery belongs to reality.

Reading in briefExamine business difficulties through business conditions.
MUSIC VIDEO CHOSEN FOR THIS STORY

Hills · 山丘

Jonathan Lee · 1080p HD

Opening a restaurant, closing one. Having been in the business, I know you have to get over each hurdle yourself;

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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 →