English Summary

Dashan Online is primarily targeted at a Chinese-speaking audience. This English section merely provides a general introduction to Dashan and his work.

Who is Dashan?

Dashan, AKA Mark Rowswell, has been called “the most famous foreigner in China”, where he has worked as performer, television host and cultural ambassador for over 20 years.

Born and raised in Canada, Rowswell became interested in Chinese performing arts, particularly xiangsheng (相声), a popular form of comic dialogue, while studying at Beijing University. A chance opportunity to appear on television suddenly gave Rowswell national exposure under the stage name “Dashan”, and repeated appearances on programs with audiences in the hundreds of millions turned “Dashan” into a household name across China. …more

What Does He Do?

Dashan is one of the leading freelance emcees in China, both for television and live events, especially for programs and events with an international theme. Dashan also works as a freelance performer in drama and comedy and has produced and hosted numerous educational programs, both to teach English and Chinese. In addition, Dashan does consulting and promotional work for both commercial clients and charitable causes.

Dashan maintains two popular micro-blogs in China that explore cross-cultural issues and are followed daily by close to 2 million subscribers.  Follow these at Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo.

Dashan was Team Attaché for the Canadian Olympic team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. During Expo 2010 in Shanghai, Dashan served as Commissioner General for Canada.

New: PM names “Dashan” as Canada’s Goodwill Ambassador to China

[PMO Press Release: February 7, 2012] Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced the naming of Mark Rowswell, also know as “Dashan”, as Canada’s Goodwill Ambassador to China. “For many years Mark Rowswell has used his extraordinary talents to build bridges of understanding between Canada and China,” said Prime Minister Harper.  “I am pleased to name this highly recognized and respected individual as Canada’s Goodwill Ambassador to China.” Full Text

Dashan on the Web

(Unfortunately, this Facebook link will not work from within China.)	Follow Mark on Quora
	Wikipedia Dashan (Chinese: 大山; pinyin: Dàshān; literally “Big Mountain”) is the Chinese stage name adopted by Canadian Mark Henry Rowswell, CM (born May 23, 1965 in Ottawa, Ontario) who works as a freelance performer in People’s Republic of China.…more
	Weibo Dashan maintains one of the leading celebrity microblogs in China, at Sina Weibo. (in Chinese only) Recently, Dashan launched a second microblog at Tencent Weibo, picking up almost 300,000 subscribers in the first week. Together, these two microblogs are followed by close to 2 million people daily.
	YouTube Unfortunately, YouTube is not accessible from within China and this site is no longer actively maintained.  More recent videos, including pilot episodes for the bi-directional English/Chinese language program “Dashan Kan Dashan” can be found on Youku.com.