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
35 / 90
View from the TIVOLI hotel’s open-air bar towards Oriente station and the roundabout, where a delivery rider crosses beneath the traffic lights
View from the TIVOLI hotel’s open-air bar towards Oriente station and the roundabout, where a delivery rider crosses beneath the traffic lights
15 · 09 · 2026 · Oriente Station · TIVOLI Hotel · Sam Wang
LIFE NOTE

Passers-by

Beside Oriente station, the TIVOLI hotel has an open-air bar by the entrance; I sit and watch people stroll past at their own pace.

At one table, a group of tourists are drinking beer. Crisps from the table have fallen and lie scattered across the ground.

At the roundabout, a delivery rider crosses the junction beneath the traffic lights.

‘Who is not a passer-by in someone else’s life?’

“September in Expo: 25 degrees, a breeze… just right;”

I CHING READINGOpen another reading
I CHING READING · Author’s interpretation
Hexagram 17

Sui · Following

Classic text · interpretive translation
Great indeed is the meaning of following the time.

Following the time, in Sui, requires asking whose time it is. Leisure at the bar and the courier’s haste share a junction; the breeze does not give everyone equal freedom.

The observer can also be observed. We can appreciate the moment’s rhythm without inferring the weight of someone’s life from a passing gesture.

Reading in briefAt one junction, each person has their own time.
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Free and Unfettered · 任逍遥

Richie Jen · 1080p HD

I watch people hurry; I once ran for the last train too. This nineties song lends me a little freedom: the work remains, but I can sit here for a moment;

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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 →