PARIS – From schussing the slopes to gobbling like a turkey and saying “wicked good,” Wang Zhiming has got Maine down.

“He’s wildly popular,” said Sue Moccia, a Paris Elementary School art teacher.

The 45-year-old Chinese exchange teacher is known here simply as “Max,” a name he selected – for no particular reason other than it was easy to remember – before he came to the United States.

Max is scheduled to leave for his homeland on Saturday when his counterpart, Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School social studies teacher Jason Long, comes home after a four-month stay at SAD 17’s sister school in Jinhua, China. The city, south of Shanghai, has a population of more than 4.5 million.

Back in Paris, Maine, Max taught Chinese language and culture. He also visited each of the district’s elementary schools at least once to teach brush writing and the Chinese alphabet. He taught some students how to draw characters that form the words “peace” and “harmony” in a beautiful form of calligraphy.

“I tried to teach everyone some Chinese. This is a good beginning,” he said as children at Harrison Elementary School gathered around to watch him sign his name in Chinese.

“I really enjoyed it here,” he said between classes. “The people are very friendly. Everyone has good manners. I think I have many friends here.”

The program has enriched students at every grade level, said Superintendent Mark Eastman. “It’s been a great program. He’s been a great teacher.”

Max, a former English teacher, is an administrator at a Jinhua school that houses some 3,000 students in the equivalent of grades 10-12. He arrived from China in the dead of one of Maine’s stormiest winters, and he relished every snowflake.

He went ice-fishing shortly after arriving. “I caught a very big pike,” he said, smiling broadly.

Max comes from a part of China where there is not much snow or thick ice so he took advantage of it here in the Oxford Hills. He drove a snowmobile one day in Newry, covering 50 miles, and even tried skiing on Shawnee Peak in Bridgton.

“That’s a daring sport,” he said. “It’s difficult to do it, but I can do it pretty well.”

Perhaps what caught his attention most was turkey calling.

“Turkey calling is very interesting,” he said, making the noises he learned to entice the turkey to the shooter.

“We get up about 3 to 3:30 in the morning and hide in the tent. You wait until the turkey comes down, then call them near, then shoot them,” he said.

What impressed him the most about his time in the Oxford Hills was the friendliness of the people and their dedication to environmental protection.

“People have a strong sense of environmental protection. The water is very clear and I can see the roads are very clear,” he said.

China is still developing in terms of environmental protection, he said. “They are doing better and better, but it is such a large population.”

For high school Principal Ted Moccia, the exchange gave students an opportunity to see another side of the world.

“It has broadened our kids’ perspective on China,” he said. “There are 1.4 billion people (in China), and the whole idea of the world becoming flatter and closer, it’s so true. We’re not so different. We do want the same things. He wants better for his children like we do. You can’t replace the authentic piece.”

Monday night Max bid farewell to the SAD 17 Board of Directors.

“How time flies,” he said. “It has been an unforgettable experience. I remember you, memorize you forever.”