Famous Foreigners Fluent in Chinese

Dashan (大山, pinyin: Dàshān, lit. "Big Mountain") is the Chinese stage name adopted by Canadian Mark Henry Rowswell CM (born 1965 in Ottawa, Ontario) who works as a freelance performer in China. Relatively unknown in the West, Dashan is perhaps the most famous Western performer in China, where he occupies a unique position as a foreign national who has become a bona fide domestic celebrity. BBC stated on June 14, 2008, that Rowswell "has been China's most famous foreigner since 1988. His fame is predicated on his ability to speak Mandarin Chinese better than many Chinese."^[1]

Education

Rowswell attended high school at Nepean High School in Ottawa, Ontario. Rowswell began studying Chinese while attending the University of Toronto in 1984. His original Chinese name, as given by his Canadian Chinese-language teacher, was Lu Shiwei (路士伟). Upon graduation from the University of Toronto in 1988, Rowswell was awarded a full scholarship to continue Chinese language studies at Peking University

Xiangsheng

Following Rowswell's first appearance as "Dashan", he began formal study of xiangsheng (a traditional form of "crosstalk" comedy) with his mentor, China's foremost comedian Jiang Kun. In December 1989, Dashan became the first foreigner to be formally accepted into the strict xiangsheng hierarchy as a member of the "9th generation," a move that caused considerable controversy in Chinese performing arts circles at the time. Xiangsheng is often called "the art of comedic language", and as such is regarded in China as a highly skilled form of performing art beyond the reach of most native speakers, much less a foreigner.

Through the 1990s, Dashan appeared frequently on national and regional television programs across China to perform xiangsheng, including several appearances on CCTV's annual television program celebrating the Chinese New Year Gala Chunjie Wanhui (春节晚会) in 1998 and 1999. This program is easily the most influential annual television event in China, with an estimated audience of 900 million to 1 billion viewers. Appearances on this and other programs gained Dashan wide recognition throughout China.

DA SHAN LINKS:

Da Shan Official Homepage

Dashan channel on YouTube