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
69 / 90
The entrance to Casino Estoril, with a lawn and fountain beneath a blue sky
The entrance to Casino Estoril, with a lawn and fountain beneath a blue sky
25 · 08 · 2026 · Casino Estoril · Black and Silver Hall · Sam Wang
LIFE NOTE

The Old Casino

Casino Estoril, which everyone calls the ‘old casino’, is one of Europe’s largest casinos. Its foundation stone was laid in 1916, and it officially opened in 1931.

During the Second World War, Portugal’s neutrality made Estoril a social centre frequented by intelligence agents from both sides, exiled royalty, and public figures. The British writer and naval intelligence officer Ian Fleming visited wartime Estoril; its mixture of casino, hotels, and espionage is widely regarded as one of the inspirations for his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.

Time moves on, and learning carries us farther. Today, in the casino’s Black and Silver Hall, children from Lisbon’s Chinese language school show their talents, while the dragon-dance team brings Chinese culture vividly to the stage.

“The shouts at the gaming tables and the laughter on stage—how many people can truly tell them apart?”

I CHING READINGOpen another reading
I CHING READING · Author’s interpretation
Hexagram 20

Guan · Contemplation

Classic text · interpretive translation
Contemplate the country's splendour; it is favourable to be a guest of the king. — Zhou Yi · Guan, line 4

Guan allows attention to how a community presents itself. Children share culture in a casino hall; the building houses activities with different purposes and values.

Gaming table and stage produce excitement, but similar sounds do not make their stakes identical. What are people celebrating, and what does each activity ask of them?

Reading in briefWithin one building, distinguish what each activity involves.
MUSIC VIDEO CHOSEN FOR THIS STORY

Descendants of the Dragon · 龙的传人

Leehom Wang · 1080p HD

On the old casino stage, the children perform in Chinese. We are in Portugal, but where we come from is still with us;

Quality adapts to your connection. You can select HD in the player settings.Player not working? Open the original video ↗
READER ECHOES

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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.