Chinese artist Shaozong Men works on a traditional Chinese painting Tuesday in Elgin Community College's ATC Auditorium that he will donate to the college. | Michael Smart~Sun-Times Media

The black lines began to take shape as Shaozong Men swirled ink across a 10-by-8-foot sheet of special rice paper: pine needles, an evergreen branch, a bald eagle perched high atop the tree.

“The theme of his painting is ‘Stand tall and look far,’ ” said Na Li, a Chinese instructor at Elgin Community College.

Li translated Tuesday for Men as the artist demonstrated how to create a traditional Chinese painting for students at ECC — by actually creating one.

That painting, once mounted, will be displayed at the school — the first of its size and by an artist of Men’s standing to be acquired in the state college and university system, according to the college.

“This is exciting to bring him firsthand to the students. That is the crux of it — to have an appreciation for Chinese culture firsthand,” said Elgin Community College President David Sam.

Sam and Rick Mao — dean of the college’s communications and behavioral science division and adviser to the Chinese Club of ECC — met with Men while in China last fall to sign memorandums of understanding with officials from the Chengdu Sanyuan Foreign Languages School and the Southwest University of China, Mao said. Those partnerships will allow the schools to exchange students and faculty.

The community college also has a memorandum with the Chongqing Business and Technical University in China that will allow Elgin staff and students to visit Chongqing annually to learn Mandarin and experience Asian culture.

The college had researched Men’s credentials and invited him to Elgin to “share his expertise and wonderful artwork with our students,” Mao said. But after Men accepted, his first visa was denied, Mao said. He got a visa only after Sam wrote a personal letter to the Chinese embassy to explain the program, he added.

“This artist really has a heart of gold,” Mao said. “He’s very happy to see our students, and our faculty all are fascinated with art.”

“Normally, the artist won’t show the process of painting because it’s a trade secret,” Mao said. “But for the benefit of our students, he’s allowed us to tape it and show it to our students.”

Men learned traditional Chinese painting from Qi Baishi, a famous Chinese artist who had been friends with Pablo Picasso. He spoke about Qi while painting from about 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday in the college’s Advanced Technology Center auditorium.

“Mr. Qi had a famous saying: As far as freehand painting, you’re supposed to use one as 10,” Men said, through Li’s translation. “When you paint a Chinese painting, it’s supposed to be simple, elegant, and if you can, use one stroke instead of 10. I actually applied what he said in this painting.”

Mi Hu, dean of the college’s academic development and learning resources division, said the artist had shown college staff a smaller sketch of the painting he planned to donate to the college Monday. And he explained to them its significance.

“That’s a symbol of ECC — our development is like the eagle ready to fly,” Hu said. “Also, the eagle tends to stand on top of the trees so they can see far. ECC has a very good vision for its future development.”