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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05 · 10 · 2026 · Hongri · Colinas neighbourhood · Sam Wang
LIFE NOTE
The Roast Chicken Shop
The Colinas neighbourhood in the Hongri area seems very quiet. The other restaurants have only a handful of customers; outside one roast chicken shop, though, there is a long queue.
The glass in front of the grill reflects the people waiting; their figures overlap with the cook’s, until you cannot tell who is inside and who is outside.
On the grass across the road, a father and son are playing football. I picked up the ball that had rolled to the roadside and threw it back.
“Obrigado,” the little boy said as he caught the ball;
I CHING READINGOpen another reading
Hexagram 38
Classic text · interpretive translationKui · Divergence
Fire above, the lake below: Divergence. Thus the noble person lives with others while retaining their differences. — Zhou Yi · Kui, Image
Kui takes its image from fire rising and the water of a lake moving downwards: being together does not erase differences. Read through this shop window, customers and cook form one picture, but waiting and working remain different things. The photograph blurs the boundary; it does not make everyone’s circumstances the same.
Nor can a long queue at one restaurant and few customers at the others tell us how well each business is doing from this one moment. The note records a difference without supplying its cause. The ball at the roadside needs less explanation: one person throws it back, another catches it, and there is an “Obrigado”. For a moment, different paths meet.
Reading in briefFigures overlap, circumstances differ; a ball brings passing lives briefly together.Song of an Ordinary Man · 凡人歌
Jonathan Lee · 1080p HDOne vote per browser per version; change or withdraw it anytime. Votes are for the author’s reference.
Jonathan Lee’s “Song of an Ordinary Man” accompanies everyday life on either side of this window: some people prepare food, others wait to eat, while across the road a father and son play football. Each has a day of their own.
Quality adapts to your connection. You can select HD in the player settings.Player not working? Open the original video ↗READER ECHOES
Waiting for your voiceWhat 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