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
44 / 90
Workers renew the façade of Feira Internacional de Lisboa from scaffolding beneath its white wing-like canopy
Workers renew the façade of Feira Internacional de Lisboa from scaffolding beneath its white wing-like canopy
07 · 09 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Feira Internacional de Lisboa · Sam Wang
LIFE NOTE

A New Look

The Feira Internacional de Lisboa, in the former Expo grounds, is having its façade renewed.

A worker standing beside me said, “The whole of Parque das Nações is preparing for Web Summit in mid-November.”

Scaffolding stretches along the wall, with workers suspended among the white steel frames. After ten days of work, this row of “wings” reaching towards the sky looks as though it has put on a new outfit;

“Beneath the crown of ‘Lisbon’s CBD’, Expo moves forward, bearing its weight in silence;”

I CHING READINGOpen another reading
I CHING READING · Author’s interpretation
Hexagram 22

Bi · Grace

Classic text · interpretive translation
Fire beneath the mountain: Grace. The noble one clarifies public affairs, but does not presume to decide legal cases in this way. — Zhou Yi · Bi, Image

Bi brings ornament together with what sustains it. New colour changes a first impression; work on scaffolding makes it possible. The city’s appearance depends on particular people.

The text’s caution about judgement recalls the limits of appearance. Fresh paint shows preparation and investment without, by itself, establishing economic recovery or hardship.

Reading in briefA facade can be renewed; judgement needs to go deeper.
MUSIC VIDEO CHOSEN FOR THIS STORY

Red Sun · 红日

Hacken Lee · 1080p HD

On the scaffolding, workers bear the weight and restore the white wings little by little. Red Sun is less about the new clothes than the strength to keep moving through every rise and fall;

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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 →