01 · 28 · 08 · 2026 · South of the Expo districtPINNED
Performer
The platform outlined in red looks so fragile—like a footnote to walking on thin ice in life.
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ENGLISH EDITION
Let it be,without forcing it;
Memoirs of a Chinese restaurateur in Portugal, read through life’s changes and the I Ching.
HALF A LIFETIME OF NOTES
Let it be,without forcing it;
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
Two parts, twelve moments.
A life told through choices, losses and changes rather than a résumé.
Necessity brings change.
From arriving in Lisbon to the Madrid expansion, family, and the pandemic.
Change opens the way.
A new digital beginning with XIAOXIONG®.
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
02 · 06 · 10 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Oceanarium
Oceanarium II
“The oceanarium sheds the bustle of the day and returns to quiet;”
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03 · 06 · 10 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Beside the oceanarium
Little Stream
“In the lower-left corner, the shadow holds up a phone;”
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04 · 06 · 10 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Lisbon Oceanarium
Oceanarium
“In the distance, two cable cars glide towards the end of the line;”
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05 · 05 · 10 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Vasco da Gama Shopping Centre
Nightfall
“Beneath the streetlights, a family passes, seen from behind;”
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06 · 05 · 10 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Tagus riverside
Low Tide II
“The sky, so blue;”
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02 · 09 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Casino Lisboa · Sam Wang
LIFE NOTE
The New Casino
Casino Lisboa in Parque das Nações is known among Lisbon’s Chinese community as the ‘new casino’.
The building behind its distinctive modern glass façade was once Expo ’98’s Pavilion of the Future (Pavilhão do Futuro). After being converted, it officially opened as a casino in 2006.
I had not been inside for many years. Last month, I went back with a friend visiting from China.
The people there had changed a great deal. Many of the dealers I used to know have since become managers.
‘Sam, what would you like to drink?’
Tiago called out to me from across the room.
‘Coffee, thank you!’
A car by the roadside had already been clamped by EMEL—€120, gone;
I CHING READINGOpen another reading
Hexagram 49
Classic text · interpretive translationGe · Transformation
Heaven and earth change, and the four seasons take shape. — Zhou Yi · Ge, Commentary on the Judgment
Ge asks us to distinguish levels of change: pavilion to casino, dealers to managers, familiar greetings persisting. Uses, positions and relationships follow different rhythms.
Returning or ordering coffee does not reveal the entire relationship with the past. Personal change needs to be observed in actions beyond new names and familiarity.
Reading in briefPlaces change; personal change shows through action.Song of Ordinary People · 凡人歌
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The old croupier is now a manager. I had my coffee, then came out to a hundred-and-twenty-euro fine. Ordinary people's lives;
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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