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
42 / 90
University musicians in black capes perform beneath trees in Parque das Nações, surrounded by young people standing or sitting on the ground
09 · 09 · 2026 · Parque das Nações · Sam Wang
LIFE NOTE

Back to School

On a street in Parque das Nações, a group of young people in black capes forms a semicircle beneath the trees.

Guitars, a drum, a double bass… A tuna, the traditional Portuguese university student ensemble, brings its performance to the Expo stage.

I turn the camera and find another large group of young people. Those in front sit on the ground; those behind stand. Some talk to the people beside them, while others look down at their phones.

“Back-to-school season! My eldest daughter has started university too;”

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

Guan · Contemplation

Classic text · interpretive translation
Observe my own life; advance or withdraw.

Guan returns the gaze to the observer’s position. The students on the street and the daughter entering university share, in her father’s eyes, the start of an academic year.

That reveals a new family stage without describing her experience. Watching children grow includes waiting for them to tell their own lives.

Reading in briefRecognise the new stage, and hear the children’s own stories.
MUSIC VIDEO CHOSEN FOR THIS STORY

The Story of Time · 光阴的故事

FOLK 2022 ensemble · 1080p HD

Before him, students make music together; in his thoughts, his daughter is starting university. ‘The Story of Time’ accompanies the father's sense of time in that moment;

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