Dashan

CANADIAN COMEDIAN IN CHINA

Although he may go by the relatively inconspicuous name of Mark Rowswell here in his native country, in his adopted home of China the comedian known as Dashan is a full blown celebrity. One of the most well-known western personalities working in the Chinese entertainment industry, Dashan is responsible for shaping the country’s collective view of Canadians as mild-mannered and friendly foreigners. With a fluency in Mandarin that has become the envy of many a western student of the language, Da Shan first appeared on Chinese television in 1988 as the host of an international singing competition, and has since become a regular fixture in the media.

BIOGRAPHY

Born and raised in Canada, Mark Rowswell began studying Chinese in the mid 1980s, first at the University of Toronto and later at Beijing University. Shortly after arriving in Beijing, a chance opportunity to appear on television unexpectedly gave him national exposure under the stage name “Dashan” and an entrance into the world of xiangsheng 相, a traditional form of Chinese comedic dialogue, to become the first foreign practitioner of this ancient art form. Repeated appearances on programs with audiences in the hundreds of millions gradually turned “Dashan” into a household name across China and a cultural icon as “a foreigner but not an outsider”.

As an active participant in the Chinese media landscape, Dashan has had a front-row seat to witness the massive changes in Chinese society these 25 years, “like spanning Ed Sullivan to YouTube & Netflix in one career”. After largely turning away from comedy in the late 1990s, Dashan has recently returned to comedic roots, exploring the nascent stand-up scene in China, bringing his experience in traditional Chinese comedy to this very modern and Western art form. He will share with us his experiences as a foreign national yet a domestic public figure inside a changing China, and of finding common ground between cultures.

Rowswell was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2006 and named “Canada’s Goodwill Ambassador to China” by Prime Minister Steven Harper in 2012.