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
25 / 90
A framed photograph of a brush and wash bowl on the left, beside the actual bowl and hanging brush on the right
A framed photograph of a brush and wash bowl on the left, beside the actual bowl and hanging brush on the right
19 · 09 · 2026 · A writing corner · Sam Wang
LIFE NOTE

At Ease

I photographed the brush and wash bowl on the desk, put the photograph in a frame, then placed it back beside the brush and bowl.

The brush inside the frame stopped at the moment of the photograph; outside, washed clean, it keeps writing “随意” — “at ease”;

Once everything was in place, I took another photograph.

“Be natural, don’t force it;”

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

Sui · Following

Classic text · interpretive translation
Following: great success. Perseverance in what is right is beneficial. No blame.

Sui joins following with a steady criterion. Photographing, framing and arranging involve choices; spontaneous liking can lead to deliberate care.

The framed brush belongs to a past moment; the one outside remains available. After preserving an image of ourselves, do we allow new actions to change it? Spontaneity can itself become a pose to maintain.

Reading in briefKeep an image, and allow yourself to keep changing.
MUSIC VIDEO CHOSEN FOR THIS STORY

Laughing at the World · 笑红尘

Sarah Chen · 1080p HD

Carefully framing an everyday photograph, then returning to the brush: the freedom in Sarah Chen’s “笑红尘” accompanies finding time for one’s small pleasures after all these years.

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 →