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
53 / 90
Two officers of Portugal’s National Republican Guard ride white horses beneath the trees beside the Tagus in Parque das Nações
Two officers of Portugal’s National Republican Guard ride white horses beneath the trees beside the Tagus in Parque das Nações
02 · 09 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Tagus riverfront · Sam Wang
LIFE NOTE

Mounted Patrol

Two mounted officers of Portugal’s National Republican Guard (Guarda Nacional Republicana, or GNR) are patrolling beside the Tagus.

Parque das Nações is known as one of Lisbon’s safer neighbourhoods. Redeveloped after Expo ’98, it gradually became a modern district built along the river.

When a police patrol looks like a stroll, passers-by see the scenery rather than the need for security.

“Beneath the trees, the hoofbeats carry a rhythm of their own;”

I CHING READINGOpen another reading
I CHING READING · Author’s interpretation
Hexagram 7

Shi · The Army

Classic text · interpretive translation
Within the earth is water: the image of the Army. Thus the noble one embraces the people and gathers the multitude.

Shi connects organised strength with accommodating and caring for people. The patrol resembles a stroll while retaining its function; tranquillity allows authority to appear without confrontation.

One image does not establish the neighbourhood’s entire safety record. It suggests a criterion: can different people use the riverside confidently? Protection’s meaning also lies in the lives it serves.

Reading in briefOrder’s value is felt in people’s ease.
MUSIC VIDEO CHOSEN FOR THIS STORY

Strolling · 漫步

Xu Wei · 720p HD

I used to hurry more; now I can hear the rhythm of hooves. The song accompanies this pause: work continues, but every step need not chase the last train;

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 →