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
82 / 90
The broad curved canopy of the Gulbenkian Modern Art Centre
The broad curved canopy of the Gulbenkian Modern Art Centre
11 · 08 · 2026 · Gulbenkian · Lisbon · Sam Wang
LIFE NOTE

Neighbour

The Modern Art Centre in the Gulbenkian Garden has a striking curved canopy, designed by the internationally renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma.

The canopy connects the museum to the surrounding garden, making the building feel less isolated.

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is one of Lisbon’s most important cultural institutions, with art treasures spanning thousands of years of history.

Vizinho — “neighbour”. That’s what I call the Gulbenkian. The sky is so blue.

I CHING READINGOpen another reading
I CHING READING · Author’s interpretation
Hexagram 8

Bi · Holding Together

Classic text · interpretive translation
Water upon the earth: Holding Together. — Zhou Yi · Bi, Image

Bi gives proximity a walkable form. The canopy reaches towards the garden, bringing art and daily walking into contact; spatial openness creates conditions for relationship.

Calling it a neighbour shortens a distance. Entering, staying and returning then give that closeness substance: the name begins it, use develops it.

Reading in briefSpace opens an entrance; encounters grow closeness.
MUSIC VIDEO CHOSEN FOR THIS STORY

Years Flow Like Water · 似水流年

Anita Mui · 1080p HD

I moved offices; the garden I used to pass became an old neighbour. This song accompanies days I never marked as special, yet which stayed in my life;

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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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.